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MONOLTTU (A) AT QUIUIGrA. 



GUATEMALA 



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PHE LAND OF THE QUETZAL 



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By WILLIAM T. ^RIGHAM, A.M. 




NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1887 



Copyright, 1887, 
By William T. Brigham. 



©nibersttg l^rcss: 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 

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PREFACE. 



A BELIEF in the increasing importance of Central 
America, both geographically and politically, has 
led the writer of the following pages to collect for his 
own use and print for the use of others, notes made 
during three journeys in Guatemala and Honduras. He 
does not pretend to offer a monograph on Guatemala, nor 
to add to the general knowledge of Central America ; but 
remembering the lack of guidance from which he siiiffered 
in travelling through the country, would in some measure 
save others from the same inconvenience. He seeks also, 
with perhaps more ambition, to awaken among Americans 
greater interest in the much-neglected regions betw^ 
the Republic of Mexico and the Isthmus of Darie^ 

A land which was the cradle of civilization 
continent, and whose recently explored mc-^ 
most justly claiming the study and adnvoVr 
geologists in Europe as well as in 
strangely neglected by the Americ'^s'^ript- 
by the American merchant. Si^ 
fascinated the public nearly ^ 
of the United States lo' 
Guatemala or its cor 
sands of square 
between the lo^ 
Nicaragua. 




vi PREFACE. 

No country on the northern half of the American 
continent has a finer climate or more beautiful and varied 
scenery, or is a more attractive field for the genuine 
traveller. Valleys rivalling the paradises of the islands 
of the Pacific ; uplands not unlike the plateau of the 
Indian Neilgherries ; forests as dense and luxuriant as 
those of Brazil ; lakes as picturesque as those of Switzer- 
land ; green slopes that might have been taken from the 
Emerald Isle ; glens like the Trossachs ; desert wastes 
that recall the Sahara ; volcanoes like ^tna ; and a 
population as various as in that land whence comes the 
Indian name, — all these features make but the incom- 
plete outline of the Guatemaltecan picture. Then there 
is that charming freedom from conventionality which 
permits a costume for comfort rather than for fashion, 
accoutrements for convenience rather than for show. No 
dange/rous beast or savage man attempts the traveller's 
life, iio lurking danger or insidious pestilence is in his 
path. The hair-breadth escapes, more interesting to the 
reader than pleasant to the explorer, are rare here, and 
^ rough places and the irritations from which no laud 
"th is wholly free, seem softened and vanishing to 
"nective eye. 

^lers know how soon the individualit}'' of a 

when once the tide of foreign travel is 

towns or its by-ways ; and when the 

-^sses the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 

■^d extends through Guatemala, 

"^ ail way traverses the plains 

n Canal unites the At- 

^ be broken, the mule- 

npplanted, and a 

-"ost as dull as 



PREFACE. 



Vll 



In the sober work to which this Preface introduces the 
reader, first impressions have been confirmed or corrected 
by subsequent experience, and flights of the imagination 
curbed by the truth-telling camera ; from the published 
maps the most correct portion has been selected, and the 
statistics are from the Government reports. Many hun- 
dred photographic plates made by the writer during a 
period of three years have contributed to the illustrations 
of this book, so that accuracy has been secured. Where 
the plates are not direct reproductions from the negatives, 
the ink drawings have been made from photographic 
prints with care. There are no fancy sketches. 



W. T. B. 



Boston, June 16, 1887. 




From an Ancient Manuscript. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

I . The Kingdom of Guatemala 1 

II. The Atlantic Coast and its Connections ... 25 

III. Across the Continent Westward to Coban ... 66 

IV. From Coban to Quezaltenango 103 

V. From Quezaltenango to the Pacific 148 

VI. Guatemala City 171 

VII. Guatemala to Esquipulas 190 

VIII. Esquipulas and Quirigua 201 

IX. In the Olden Time • • 228 

X. The Republic of Guatemala • 281 

XI. Vegetable and Animal Productions 323 

XII. Earthquakes and Volcanoes . 377 

APPENDIX 411 

INDEX 445 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
/ Monolith at Quieigua (A) Frontispiece 

TO TACE PAGE 

' A Street in Livingston 28 

. Intekiob, of a Carib HoirsE . • 30 

N Grating Cassava 32 

X Weaving a Serpiente 36 

> El Eio Chocon 44 

> CoBAN Church and Plaza (from tte tower of the Cabildo) .... 94 
Prank and his Mare Mabel 106 

. Chicaman (two views taken from the same place before sunrise) .... 109 

Valley oe the Chixoy • H* 

Plaza of Sacapulas H^ 

ToTONiCAPAN Valley 138 

Lago de Atitlan (from the road above Panajacbel) 156 

' A Street in Guatemala City 1'^' 

Guatemala City (from the Church of the Carmen) 178 

' Santuario at Esquipulas • 202 

Monolith at Quirigua (E) 218 



XU ILLUSTRATIONS. 

TO FACE PACE 

•i Altab-Stones at Quirigua 222 

^ Ethnogkaphic Chart (after Dr. Stoll) 271 

A Group of Carib Children 272 

Two Carib Boys 274 

• A Carib plaiting a Petaca 276 

' A Court Scene in Livingston 318 

In the Forest 324 

CoHUNE Palms {Attalea cohune, Mart.) 330 

VoLCAN DE PuEGo (from the Cabildo, Antigua) 392 



TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Figures (from an ancient Manuscript) vii 

Luciano Calletano (captain at Chocon) 24 

Barrack Point, Livingston 27 

Entrance to the Rio Dulce 41 

Female Iguanas 47 

Barbecue at Benito 50 

Section of Vejuco de Agua 54 

Dragon Rock, Chocon 55 

San Gil (from the author's house at Livingston) 59 

Puerto Barrios 61 

Sulphur Spring 63 

Paddle and Machete 65 

Castillo de San Felipe (plan drawn by F. E. Blaisdell) 69 



ILLUSTRATIONS. XIU 

PAGE 

Making Tortillas 71 

• Roof-tile (from a sketch by 'E. E. Blaisdell) 89 

- In Hotel Aleman 91 

/ Plan of Hotel Aleman (by F. E. Blaisdell) 92 

The Cabildo of Coban 93 

• Interior of the Church at Coban 94; 

' Pattern of Cloth > . 95 

- Quetzal (Macropharus mocino) 97 

' Indio of Coban 99 

, cuartillo of guatemala 102 

Rope Bridge over the Chixoy 107 

Quiche Altar of Tohil (Sacrificatorio) 122 

' Marimba 123 

■ JlCARA 124) 

SOLOLA AND VoLCAN DE AtITLAN 132 

Church at Quezaltenango 143 

Manuel Lisandro Barillas (President of Guatemala) l^a 

Alcaldes of Quezaltenango 146 

Cuatro-Reales of Honduras . 147 

' J. RuFiNO Barrios (pbotograph taken in 1883) 149 

. Boat on the Lago de Atitlan 153 

. Washout in the Road 157 

: Antigua and the Yolcan de Agua 159 

>- Ruined Church in Antigua Guatemala 161 

, Railroads for Guatemala 168 

, Bread-fruit (^Artocarpus incisd) 170 

> Section of Boat at Amatitlan • . 174 



XIV ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Church of the Carmen 179 

Spanish Stirrup (of the time of Cortez) ..." 184. 

Terra-cotta Figurines 184 

Indian Pottery 189 

Pacaya, Euego, Agua 190 

HUNAPU FROM the EASTWARD 191 

Mozo ON the Eoad 198 

Lava Mask in the Museo Nacional 200 

Incense-Burner (about half the size of the original) 207 

Remains at Quirigua (from Mr. Maudslay's plan) 217 

Monolith at Quirigua (F) 219 

Monolith E (portion of back) 221 

IzABAL (from the end of the wharf) 225 

Whistle from Las Quebradas 227 

Ancient Temple (from an old Manuscript) 245 

Indio sacrificing Blood from his Tongue (Kingsborough) .... 246 

Ideographs 251 

Ancient Incense-burner 251 

Stone Ring for Ball Game (at Chichen Itza) 257 

A Carib Woman 272 

Indian Women, Pocomam Tribe 275 

Mozos DE Cargo, Quiche 279 

Carved Stone Seat (Museo Nacional) 280 

Arms of Guatemala . 281 

Rafael Carrera (from a silver dollar) . 2S8 

Matapalo-Tree 326 

Attalea cohune (flowers and fruit) 330 



ILLUSTRATIONS. XV 

PAGE 

Leaf Tip of Climbing Palm (JDesmoncus) 332 

Indian Plough; a Type of Gxtatemaltecan Agriculture .... 340 

A Primitive Sugar-mill (common at Livingston) 341 

Theobroma cacao (chocolate tree) 346 

Castilloa elastica (India-rubber tree) 347 

A Bunch of Plantains (young) 352 

■ Pounding Eice 356 

Growth of a Young Coconut 360 

> Passiflora Bbighami 376 

■ CONGBEHOY PeAK 384 

CosEGUiNA (from the sea) 399 

Group (from an ancient Manuscript) r . . . . 442 

— ■« — 

MAPS. 

, Central America 6 

Lago de Atitlan 154 

Central American Volcanoes 377 

Lago de Ilopango 403 

Guatemala End of Booh 



GUATEMALA: 
THE LAND OF THE QUETZAL. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 

THAT part of the North American continent usually 
known as Central America was included by the 
Spanish conquerors in the kingdom of Guatemala ; and 
while my purpose is to describe the republic of Guate- 
mala, — a portion only of the ancient kingdom, — I may 
be pardoned if I call the attention of my readers briefly 
to the geography and history of all that country which 
once bore the name and is still closely allied with the 
interests of Guatemala. 

Central America should extend from the Isthmus of 
Tehuantepec to that of Darien ; from the Caribbean Sea 
on the northeast, to the Pacific Ocean on the southwest. 
Mexico, however, has taken Chiapas and Yucatan, on 
the west and north. Great Britain has seized the east 
coast of Guatemala (British Honduras), and the Isthmus 
of Panama is included in the territory of South America. 
The present independent republics of Guatemala, San 
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, con- 
stitute what is known as Central America, — a territory 



2 GUATEMALA. 

extending between 8° 10' and 19" 20' north latitude, and 
between 82" 25' and 92° 30' west longitude. In length 
it measures between eight and nine hundred miles, while 
its breadth varies from thirty to three hundred miles. 
No competent survey has ever been made of this coun- 
try, and even the coast-line is not always correctly 
laid down on the best charts. Maps have been made 
at haphazard in most cases, and very few positions 
have been scientifically determined. Government sur- 
veys along the lines of proposed canals or railways 
have not extended beyond a narrow line, usually in 
low regions remote from important centres. Dr. Frant- 
zius ^ has published a very excellent map of Costa Rica ; 
but most of the so-called maps published by or under 
the authority of individual republics are of no scien- 
tific value, the course of the principal rivers and the 
direction of the main mountain -chains being unknown. 
To illustrate the uncertain geography of Central Amer- 
ica, let me give the extent and population as pub- 
lished by three authorities, — (I.) Lippincott's Gazetteer, 
(II.) Whittaker's Almanac, and (III.) the " Geografia 
de Centro- America " of Dr. Gonzalez. 

I. 

Si[uare Miles. Population. 

Guatemala 40,777 1,190,754 

Salvador 7,335 434,520 

Honduras ...... 47,090 351,700 

Nicaragua 58,000 236,000 

Costa Rica 21,495 180,000 

174,697 2,392,974 

1 Peterniann's Mittheilungen, 1869. 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 3 

II. 

Square Miles Population. 

Guatemala. ..... 40,776 1,500,000 

Salvador ...... 7,335 554,000 

Honduras 39,600 300,000 

Nicaragua 58,170 300,000 

Costa Rica 26,040 200,000 

171,921 2,854,000 

III. 

Guatemala 50,600 1,200,000 

Salvador 9,600 600,000 

Honduras 40,000 400,000 

Nicaragua 40,000 (1882) 275,816 

Costa Rica 21,000 200,000 

161,200 2,675,816 

Without surveys and without a proper census of the 
Indian tribes no scientific description of the country can 
be given. Humboldt's theory of an Andean cordillera 
has been disputed, and his mountain-chain has proved 
to be a confusing (but not confused) series of mountain- 
ridges. Yet it well may prove that the great naturalist 
was right ; and so far as we now know from maps and 
personal observation, the vast earth-wrinkle which ex- 
tends along the western border of our continent is a 
mountain-range of definite direction (about E. 20° S. to 
W. 20^ N.) in Central America, and there occupying 
nearly the whole width of the continent. If we can 
picture to ourselves the formation in those remote ages, 
that it is the geologist's task to rehabilitate in thought, 
of a vast ridge, not sharp like the typical mountain 
range, but of broad dimensions like the swell of some 
vast ocean, we shall have the material then forming 



4 GUATEMALA. 

the earth's crust bent upwards, and in unelastic places 
broken, and this partly or entirely beneath the ocean. 
The rising land as the ages passed would be acted upon 
not only by the ocean waves and currents, but by the 
torrential rains, which were of a force and frequency 
that even our water-spouts of the present age cannot 
equal. Cracks were widened, gorges were formed ; and 
as the earth approached the present geological age, the 
gentler rains only supplied the rivers and lakes which 
now occupied the furrows ploughed deeply by primeval 
torrents. The rough work was done, the statue blocked 
out ; and henceforth meteoric influences were merely to 
finish, add expression and polish to the work. 

A traveller crossing this territory from ocean to ocean 
would sometimes follow the river valleys, then climb 
ridges, again traverse a plain, cross a valley, ride along 
another mountain-ridge, compassing a volcano, and finally 
descend abruptly to the Pacific. His direction had not 
changed, but the nature of his path had been wonder- 
fully transformed. 

Geologists know well that on one of these lines of 
disturbance, such as has been described, molten and dis- 
integrated material is apt to come to the surface as lava 
and ashes ; they expect also to find metallic vems, espe- 
cially of the precious metals, and hot springs with vari- 
ous minerals in solution, and they infer earthquakes. 
All these phenomena are present in Central America in 
full force. Immense cones have arisen along the Pacific 
slope since the general features of the land were made, 
and not only have spread vast deposits around their 
base, but have blocked up valleys, forming lakes as 
Atitlan, built promontories as Coseguina, islands as 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 5 

Ometepec in the Lake of Nicaragua, and have turned 
rivers, changed prevailing winds, and otherwise altered 
the physical conditions of the country. 

Gold sands from the disintegrated veins sparkle in 
every mountain-brook, and the deposits of silver are 
no doubt as rich as those of Mexico, Nevada, and Potosi. 
Aguas calientes, or hot springs, are found all over the 
country, and earthquakes, often severe, are common on 
the Pacific slopes. 

All along the Atlantic side the rock material is lime- 
stone or dolomite, while as one goes westward he meets 
andesyte and other forms of trachytic lava, such as 
pumice and obsidian. Even among the limestone moun- 
tains of the northeast are occasional volcanic deposits, 
exactly as might be expected when so extensive an 
upheaval has taken place. 

Whatever has been the exact process by which this 
essentially mountainous country has been formed, we 
have at present at its northern boundary the high plain 
of Anahuac, extending from Mexico (where it is inter- 
rupted by the Isthmus of Tehuantepec) through Guate- 
mala ; of somewhat lower level in Honduras and Sal- 
vador ; sinking to almost sea-level in Nicaragua (154 
feet) ; and rising again in the Altos of Veragua to about 
3,250 feet. This main range has its axis much nearer 
the Pacific shore and almost parallel to it, being in San 
Salvador distant seventy-five miles, and in Guatemala 
(Totonicapan) only fifty. Towards the Pacific the slope 
is steep, interrupted by many volcanoes ; while on the 
Atlantic side the gently terraced incline is broken intO' 
subsidiary ridges extending to the very shores. In the 
oceanic valleys and along the coast are the only low- 



6 GUATEMALA. 

lands of Central America ; and these contain the wash 
of volcanoes, limestone mountains, and ages of vegetable 
growth and decay, forming the richest of soils for agri- 
cultural purposes. 

In Guatemala the mean height of the cordillera is 
about seven thousand, and probably the mean height of 
this republic is not less than five thousand, feet. The 
Sierra Madre, or Cuchumatanes, in the Department of 
Huehuetenango, is the highest land (always excepting 
the volcanoes, which will be described later) ; and of the 
less important ridges are the Sierra de Chama (of lime- 
stone, and full of caverns), which extends towards the 
northeast and ends in the Cockscomb Range of British 
Honduras ; Sierra de Santa Cruz, also of limestone, ex- 
tends nearly eastward, north of the Lago de Izabal and 
the Rio PolochiC;, and south of the Rio Sarstun ; Sierra 
de las Minas, nearly parallel to the last, and separating 
the valley of the Rio Motagua from that of the Polochic. 
Of this range is the Montana del Mico and the peak of 
San Gil, near Livingston : the material is no longer lime- 
stone, but metamorphic rock, containing mines of some 
importance. Last we have the Sierra del Merendon, 
which forms the boundary between Guatemala and Span- 
ish Honduras ; and with various names it finally ends in 
the Montana de Omoa on the coast, — an important land- 
mark several thousand feet high. 

The mountains of Salvador are all volcanic and shore- 
ward of the main chain ; but in Honduras the lines again 
repeat the general arrangement of Guatemala, while the 
names are many, indicating a more broken system. Be- 
tween the ranges are broad and fertile valleys, the Llano 
de Comayagua being forty miles in length, with a breadth 




CENTRAL AMERICA. 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 7 

of from five to fifteen miles. In Nicaragua the ridges 
slope towards the southwest, breaking abruptly to the 
Mosquito coast, and an important part of its territory is 
occupied by the lakes of Managua and Nicaragua. From 
the broad valley the land again rises towards Costa Rica, 
where it attains the height of forty-three hundred feet, 
and, owing to the narrowness of the continent, the lat- 
eral branches are insignificant. From the table-land of 
Veragua the cordillera dwindles to the basaltic ridge of 
Panama. 

Rivers are, next to mountains, the most important 
factors in the physical aspect of the land ; and in 
Central America they are abundant, though, from the 
broken nature of the country, not of great size. From 
the position of the backbone of the land, most of the 
watershed is towards the Gulf of Mexico and the Carib- 
bean Sea ; even the great lakes of Nicaragua, which are 
really on the Pacific side, empty through the Rio San 
Juan into the Atlantic, the river taking advantage of a 
break in the cordillera. The lower or navigable portion 
of the Central American rivers is the only part known ; 
the sources of even the largest streams are still un- 
explored. So tortuous are the courses that names are 
multiplied, and rivers that flow from inhabited valleys 
through wild forests again appear in the lowlands as 
unknown strangers ; and the river that one traveller 
describes as important and navigable, because he sees 
it in the season of rain, the next visitor may cross knee- 
deep, and know only as a brook. 

On the Pacific side may be mentioned the Rio Lempa, 
which rises near Esquipulas, receives the waters of the 
considerable Lago de Guija (on the boundary of Guate- 



8 GUATEMALA. 

mala and Salvador), and even after the dry season is of 
large volume, thirty miles from its mouth attaining a 
breadth of more than six hundred feet and a depth of 
ten feet, which is nearly twenty-seven when the floods 
of the rainy season occur. If it were not for the bar, 
which has hardly a fathom of water, the navigation 
would develop rich lands on either bank. The Rio Paz, 
the Rio de los Esclavos, and the Rio Michatoya are not 
navigable, although formerly the latter stream at its 
mouth (Istapa) was large enough within the bar to admit 
the construction of vessels of moderate size ; it was here 
that the Spaniards fitted out several fleets. 

Far different are some of the rivers that find their way 
into the Atlantic. Chief among them all is the noble 
Usumacinta, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico through 
the Lago de Terminos, and is navigable many miles 
through a singularly fertile and interesting country, as 
beautiful as fancy pictures the cradle of the human race, 
— a land seldom visited by white men, and the home of 
the unconquered and unbaptized (La Candones) Indios. 
The swift Chixoy, the Rio de la Pasion, and the almost 
unknown San Pedro unite to form this " Child of many 
Waters." 

The Belize River, rising in the Montana de Dolores near 
Peten and crossing the British colony, is the principal 
highway for the commerce of Peten, the pitpans bringing 
down huge mahogany bowls, paddles, baskets, and other 
Indian goods. The Sarstun forms the southern boun- 
dary of the British possessions, and is navigable for 
small canoes as far as the rapids of Gracias a Dios. 
None but timber-cutters disturb its solitudes. The Polochic 
is at present the most useful river of Guatemala. It 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 9 

rises near Tactic, and is a foaming torrent for much of 
its course in Alta Verapaz. At Pansos the waters are 
navigable for light-draft steamers, except in very dry 
seasons ; and not far below, its volume is materially 
increased by the Cahabon. It flows through the Lake of 
Izabal, and, as the Rio Dulce, empties into the Gulf of 
Amatique over a bar of sand. The Motagua is nearly 
parallel to the Polochic, and rises near Santa Cruz del 
Quiche. From Gualan it is navigable in canoes. Smaller 
streams are the Ulua, Aguan, and Segovia in Spanish 
Honduras, which are navigable for pitpans. Finally we 
have the San Juan, known as one of the elements of the 
" Nicaragua Canal " route, but not at present navigable 
for boats of any size. 

All the rivers of Central America that can be used for 
commerce require a special river service ; for wherever 
the depth of water is sufficient, the always-present bar 
cuts oif access to vessels drawing more than six feet. 
Should the development of the country warrant it, the 
bar of the E-io Dulce could be deepened sufficiently to 
admit vessels drawing ten or fifteen feet. 

Small lakes are common enough in the northern part 
of Central America. The Laguna del Peten is about five 
hundred feet above the sea, nine leagues long and five 
broad. The Lago de Atitlan, in the Department of 
Solola, is sixteen and a half miles long from San Lucas 
Tollman to San Juan, and eight miles wide from San 
Buenaventura to Canajpu, and soundings show a depth 
of a thousand feet. With the Laguna de Amatitlan, this 
will be described in the Itinerary. Of Honduras, the 
chief lakes are the Laguna de Caratasca, or Cartago, 
close on the Atlantic coast, thirty-six miles long by 



10 GUATEMALA. 

twelve wide; the Lago de Yojoa, between the Depart- 
ments of Comayagua and Santa Barbara, twenty-five 
miles long and from five to eight wide ; the Lago de 
Cartina, eighteen miles by eight, and the Laguna de la 
Criba, fifteen by seven miles. Of all the lakes of Central 
America, none is so interesting commercially as the Lake 
of Nicaragua. It is large (ninety miles by forty), and the 
largest south of Lake Michigan. Of a depth sufficient 
for all vessels (forty-five fathoms in places), and con- 
nected with the Atlantic by the Rio San Juan, with the 
Lago de Managua (thirty-five miles by sixteen), by the 
Tipitapa, it has the serious disadvantage of being a vol- 
canic basin, whose bottom may at any time be elevated 
above the surface, — as in the case of the volcano of 
Ometepec. Whether the channel between these two lakes 
is permanent, is a matter of some doubt, as travellers 
have lately found no water flowing from Managua. The 
Lago de Guija, between Guatemala and Salvador, is 
seventeen miles long from east to west, and its mean 
width is six. Fishes and alligators abound, and its waters 
— which are not of the best quality — discharge through 
the Lempa to the Pacific. Another lake in Salvador has 
attracted attention in late years by a curious A'olcanic 
disturbance in its midst ; Ilopango will be described with 
the volcanoes. 

With this bare list of some of the prominent features 
of the country, we may join a brief account of those 
other natural and political characteristics of what was 
once Spain's stronghold on this continent that have most 
immediate relation to the present inhabitants. Leaving 
Guatemala for a separate chapter, the other four republics 
may be described as follows : — 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 11 

Salvador. — The smallest in extent, but by far the 
most populous, having no less than sixty-three inhabitants 
to the square mile. The central part is an upland of a 
mean elevation of two thousand feet above the sea, bounded 
on the Pacific side by a chain of volcanic peaks ; beyond 
these a strip of lowland from ten to twenty miles wide. 
Eastward and westward are two great depressions, San 
Miguel and Sonsonate, "the place of a hundred springs" 
(centsonatl). The Gulf of Fonseca, fifty miles long and 
nearly thirty wide, is said to be the most beautiful harbor 
on the Pacific coast. On the southwest side is the prin- 
cipal port of La Union, a town of little more than two 
thousand inhabitants, and unhealthful, as are all the Pacific 
ports. The mean temperature is 80° Fahr. ; and were it 
not for the capital commercial facilities of the town, its in- 
habitants would be few. Libertad has an open roadstead, 
and a population only half that of La Union. Acajutla 
lies between the headlands of Remedios and Santiago, and 
has but five hundred inhabitants ; as the port of Sonsonate 
(distant five leagues), however, it is much frequented, and 
is provided with an iron pier, as is Libertad. In 1882 the 
first railway in the republic was opened, from Acajutla to 
Sonsonate, a distance of fifteen miles ; and work has since 
been slowly progressing in the direction of Santa Ana. 

Mines of gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, and anthracite 
coal are found within the borders of Salvador, the prin- 
cipal being those of Loma-Larga, Corozal, Devisadero, 
Encuentros, and Tabanco, 

The capital was founded April 1, 1528, by Jorge de 
Alvarado, brother of the conqueror of Guatemala ; but 
ten or twelve years afterwards it was removed to its 
present site in the valley De los Hamacas, where it has 



12 GUATEMALA. 

been many times ruined by the terrible earthquakes to 
which this region is especially subject. 

The republic is divided into fourteen departments, 
twenty-nine districts, and two hundred and twenty-eight 
towns. 

Departments. Principal Cities. 

Santa Ana. Santa Ana (25,000). 

Ahuachapan. Ahuachapan. 

Sonsonate. Sonsonate (8,000). 

La Libertad. Nueva San Salvador (Santa Tecla). 

San Salvador. San Salvador (30,000). 

Chalatenango. Chalatenango. 

Cuscatlan. Cojutepeque. 

La Paz. Santa Lucia (Zacatecoluca) . 

San Vincente. San Vincente (10,000). 

Cabanas. Sensuntepeque. 

Usulutan. Usulutan. 

San Miguel. San Miguel. 

Gotera. Gotera. 

La Union. San Carlos (La Union). 

The legislative power is exercised by two chambers, — 
one of Deputies, the other of Senators ; each Department 
elects a senator and a substitute, each District a repre- 
sentative and his substitute. The executive power is in 
the hands of a citizen elected as President by the people 
directly ; should there be no election by an absolute 
majority of votes, the General Assembly elects from the 
three citizens who have obtained the greatest number of 
votes. Three senators are designated as heirs-apparent. 
The term of office is four years, without immediate 
re-election. The judiciary is similar in order and func- 
tions in all these republics, and will be described as in 
Guatemala. The organized militia numbers about thirteen 
thousand men ; and in case of invasion, war lawfully 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 13 

declared, and internal rebellion, all Salvadorenos between 
the ages of eighteen and fifty are liable to military 
duty. 

In 1879 the number of primary schools was 624 (465 
boys', and the rest girls'); and these were attended 
by 20,400 boys and 4,038 girls, at a probable cost of 
$150,000. There is a central university, with faculties 
of Law, Medicine, Theology, and Civil Engineering, and 
it has branches at Santa Ana and San Miguel. 

There are six hundred and ninety-three miles of tele- 
graph, with forty offices ; and the service is reasonably 
well performed by the Government officials. A railroad 
between Santa Tecla and the capital, and five hun- 
dred and nine leagues of cart-roads, afford communi- 
cation ; and there are lines of stages subsidized by the 
Government. 

In 1879 the imports were $2,549,160.19, and the 
exports $4,122,888.05; the income $2,914,236.29, and 
the expenditures $2,785,068. The funded debt was 
$1,945,201, the floating debt $392,777.11, and there 
is no foreign debt. 

Salvador is essentially an agricultural state, and coffee, 
indigo, balsam, tobacco, rice, cacao, sugar, rubber, and 
other less important products are produced abundantly 
from her fertile fields. 

Honduras. — The third republic of Central America 
covers an area of about forty thousand square miles. 
Its boundaries are seen on the map, and its surface is 
diversified with high mountain-ranges, broad and fertile 
valleys, vast forests, and plentiful streams. Its climate 
is extremely hot on the coast ; but in the mountain 
region, as at Intibuca, the temperature is low. Never 



14 GUATEMALA. 

SO hot as a summer in New England cities, and not so 
cold as to check a most luxuriant vegetable growth, the 
traveller has an alternation of spring and summer as he 
changes his level, irrespective of the astronomical year. 
Four hundred miles of Atlantic coast-line, dotted with 
river-mouths, bays, and ports ; sixty miles on the Pacific 
side, in the secure Gulf of Fonseca, — seem to provide 
ample commercial advantages ; and to make these of use 
are the following resources : vast plains in Comayagua 
and Olancho, covered with excellent grass, pasture large 
herds of cattle, thousands of which are shipped each 
year to Cuba.-^ The forests, which occupy much of the 
Atlantic coast-region and the lower mountain-slopes 
abound in mahogany, rosewood, cedar (Bursera), logwood 
(Hmmatoxylon campeclieanum), brazil-wood {Ccesalpinia 
Braziliensis), sarsaparilla (Smilax), and other marketable 
products ; the principal timber regions being on the rivers 
Ulua, Aguan, Negro, and Patuca, — all on the Atlantic 
side. In mineral wealth Honduras easily outranks all her 
sister republics. Silver ores are exceedingly abundant, 
chiefly on the Pacific slopes ; and among them are chlorides 
of remarkable richness. Gold washings occur in Olancho, 
and are now worked by several foreign companies. Cop- 
per deposits are often mingled with silver ; iron exists as 
magnetite, — sometimes so pure that it may be worked 
without smelting ; antimony, tin, and zinc also have been 
reported. Beds of lignite are found in the Department of 
Gracias ; and here too are the Hondurehan opals. Fruits 
of many kinds are now grown in the neighborhood of 
Puerto Cortez, such as bananas, plantains, coconuts, 

1 This business is declining, owing to the inferior cattle produced in 
Florida and shipped at a cheaper rate. 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 15 

pines, for which there is a constant demand from the 
steamers which come here from New Orleans. Of indigo 
little is now exported ; but the production of tobacco is 
increasing. Especially fine is the leaf grown near Copan, 
rivalling, when properly cured, the best product of the 
Cuban valleys ; but the common cigars, which are sold for 
eight dollars per thousand, are dear even at that price. In 
1879 the importations were valued at about one million 
dollars, and the exports twice that amount. In later 
years these exports have largely increased. A railroad 
of narrow gauge extends from Puerto Cortez to San 
Pedro, — thirty-seven miles ; and while the republic is 
sadly deficient in cart-roads, it is only fair to say that the 
authorities are doing something to improve these very 
necessary means, in the expectation that the country is 
to develop as it deserves. 

The government is very like that of Salvador, and 
the administrative departments are : — 

Departments. Chief Cities. 

Islas de la Balu'a. Coxen Hole (Roatan) . 

Yoro. Yoro. 

Olancho. Juticalpa. 

Paraiso. Yuscaran. 

Tegucigalpa. Tegucigalpa (12,000). 

Choluteca. Choluteca. 

La Paz. La Paz. 

Comayagua. Comayagua (10,000). 

Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara. 

Gracias. Gracias. 

Copan. Santa Rosa. 

Colon. Trujillo. 

Public lands are abundant, and are granted to actual 
settlers of any nationality at low rates, provided they 



16 GUATEMALA. 

will cultivate them. The towns are all small, although 
some of them were flourishing sixty years before the 
settlement of Jamestown in Virginia. Of the more im- 
portant are Tegucigalpa, the capital, in the midst of a 
plain some three thousand feet above the sea, and sur- 
rounded by a mining region. It possesses a Universidad 
Central, founded in 1849 by Don Juan Lindo, then Pres- 
ident. Comayagua was founded in 1540 by Alonzo de 
Caceres, also in the midst of a plain, where still are 
visible the monuments of antiquity, — the less perishable 
works of a people more energetic than their successors ; 
for with the exception of some few churches, little of 
the work of the present inhabitants would survive three 
centuries of occupation by a foreign invader. Amapala, 
on the Island of Tigre, in the Gulf of Fonseca, was for- 
merly a favorite rendezvous of the buccaneers, Drake 
making it his base of operations in the South Sea. Now 
it is no less desirable as a port, having deep water close 
to shore. Puerto Cortez, or Puerto Caballos, — as Cortez 
called it, from the death of some of his horses here, — 
on the north coast, in latitude 15" 49' N., and longitude 
87° 57' W., was selected by Cortez as the entrepot of 
New Spain, under the name of Navedad. For more 
than two hundred years it was the principal port on the 
coast ; but dread of the buccaneers caused the removal to 
Omoa. The bay is nine miles in circumference, with a 
depth of from four to twelve fathoms over its principal 
area ; and on the northern side, where the water is 
deepest, large ocean steamers may come to the wharves. 
Omoa, in latitude 15° 47' N. and longitude 88° 5' AV., 
has a smaller harbor, defended by the Castillo de San 
Fernando. Trujillo, an ancient port on the western shore 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 17 

of a noble bay, is now growing in importance with the 
development of Olancho, of which it is the natural sea- 
port ; but it has no wharf or any sufficient landing- 
place for merchandise. 

The Bay Islands are small, but of considerable impor- 
tance. Roatan, the largest, is about thirty miles long 
by nine broad, and in its highest part nearly a thousand 
feet above the sea. Guanaja, or Bonaca, the first land 
of Central America discovered by Columbus on his fourth 
voyage, is fifteen miles from Roatan, and of an extent of 
five by nine miles. This group is fertile, and with a fine 
climate should prove very attractive to settlers from the 
North who appreciate the waste of life in an arctic cli- 
mate of eight months each year, when all vegetation 
ceases to grow, and man himself can be kept alive only 
by artificial heat, where the farmer must toil wearily four 
months for the poor produce that is to sustain him all 
the " famine months," and the laborer live poorly all the 
twelvemonth, whatever be his work. 

The history of Honduras has not been a happy one, 
even since its revolt from the Spanish yoke in 1821, and 
revolutions have been the rule ; but in 1865 a new Con- 
stitution was adopted, with some prospect of internal 
quiet. The four hundred thousand inhabitants include 
perhaps seven thousand whites, the Spanish population 
being mainly on the Pacific side, Caribs along the Atlantic 
coast, and several thousand of the mixed races, the great 
majority being Indios, known as Xicaques and Poyas. 
Perhaps the most adverse influence to the progress of this 
naturally rich republic, next to the revolutions, was the 
scandalous loan for building the " Honduras Inter-oceanic 
Railway " from Puerto Cortez to the Gulf of Fonseca, a 



18 GUATEMALA. 

hundred and forty-eight miles. This loan, amounting in 
1876 to |27,000,000, was as complete a swindle as has 
ever disgraced American finances ; but the people of Hon- 
duras, although responsible for the debt, had little to do 
with its origin, and cannot rightly be blamed for not pay- 
ing interest on what they never had any advantage from. 
The internal debt is about $2,000,000. 

Nicaragua. — Of nearly the same area as Honduras, 
Nicaragua is chiefly distinguished by its lower level and 
the great lake which offers so inviting a route for an 
inter-oceanic canal. The same fertility and genial climate 
extend from the Hondureiian uplands into Chontales and 
Segovia, where Northerners can enjoy life ; but it is hot 
and unwholesome near the sea, especially throughout the 
Mosquito Reservation, where the frequent river-floods 
and the miasmatic marshes breed an endemic fever very 
fatal to Europeans. The mean annual temperature (ex- 
cepting the highlands) is about 80° F., falling to 70° at 
night, and rising to 90° in the hottest weather. The 
seasons, as elsewhere in Central America, are two, — the 
wet from May to November, the dry including the winter 
months. At Rivas, on the isthmus between the Lago de 
Nicaragua and the Pacific, the annual rainfall is about 
a hundred and two inches ; elsewhere the summer rain- 
fall is about ninety, and the winter less than ten. 

Geologically, Nicaragua is no less rich than Honduras 
m variety of structure and mineral possibilities. The 
volcanic formations on the extreme West are rich in 
pumice and sulphur, while across the lake are andesyte, 
trachyte, greenstone, and metalliferous porphyries, suc- 
ceeded by crystallized schists, dolerites, and metamorphic 
beds, extending, so far as is known, beneath the alluvial 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 19" 

deposits of the coast-region. The Chontales gold mines 
have been worked for some time near Libertad, and so 
have the silver mines of Matagalpa and Dipilto ; but the 
total annual yield of precious metals seldom exceeds 
$200,000. 

The chief articles of export are cacao, hides, coffee, 
and gums, as well as gold and silver bullion ; and in 
1880 the exports amounted to |2,057,500, and the im- 
ports to $1,475,000. The revenue for this year was 
$2,435,000, while the expenditures slightly exceeded it. 
All Nicaraguans between the age of eighteen and thirty- 
five are in the army. 

For more than half a century Nicaragua has been 
darkly distinguished above all other countries of the 
world by war and bloodshed. Military pronunciami- 
entos, civil war, and popular revolts have so exhausted all 
the resources of this rich country that it is quiet at last 
from utter exhaustion. Could these fermenting repub- 
lics be induced to give up their absurd and expensive 
military establishments, and expend the money, now 
worse than wasted, in opening roads and teaching the 
people something besides military drill, the prosperity 
of this wonderfully fertile and agreeable region would 
be assured. Only their revolutionary habits now stand 
in the way of the introduction of foreign capital ; and 
are not these habits fostered by the constant military 
display which guards the President and judges alike ? It 
is certainly foreign to all Northern ideas to have a court 
of justice guarded by military sentinels. Would that this 
Eden might be reclaimed, the swords beaten into plough- 
shares, and the generals and other officers turn their 
wasted energies to agriculture and commerce ! 



20 



GUATEMALA. 



Nicaragua is divided into the following departments, 



according to the census of 1882 : — 



Departments. 




Chief Cities. 


Managua . . . 


12,000 


Managua .... 7,800 


Granada 


51,056 


Granada . 






16,000 


Leon .... 


26,389 


Leon 






25,000 


Rivas .... 


16,875 


Rivas . . 






10,000 


Chinandega . . 


17,578 


Chinandega 






11,000 


Chontales . . . 


27,738 


Libertad . 






5,000 


Matagalpa . . 


51,699 


Matagalpa 






9,000 


Nueva Segovia 


36,902 


Ocotal . . 






3,000 


San Juan del Norte 


2,000 


Greytown . 






1,512 


Mosquitia . . . 


36,000 


Blewfields . 






1,000 



These figures cannot, however, be relied upon for the 
population. With a coast-line of two hundred and eighty 
miles on the Caribbean Sea, the only port is San Juan del 
Norte (Greytown), formed by the northern branch of the 
delta of the San Juan ; and this is now nearly choked 
with sand. The Pacific coast is bold and rocky, extending 
nearly two hundred miles from Coseguina Point to Sali- 
nas Bay, and has several convenient harbors, as San Juan 
del Sur, Brito, and, best of all, Realejo. Among the 
chief cities is Leon, founded by Francisco Fernandez de 
Cordoba in 1523 in Imbita, near the northwest shore 
of Lago de Managua, whence it was moved in 1610 to 
the present , site at the Indian town of Subtiaba. Mana- 
gua, the capital of the republic, was nearly destroj^ed in 
1876 by a land-slide, but is now rebuilt. Granada is the 
collegiate town of the republic, and is on the shores of 
the great lake. A railway has long been in process of 
construction to connect the capital with the ocean. In 
1882 the telegraphic system of eight hundred miles was 
completed, and eighty-one thousand despatches were for- 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 21 

warded the preceding year through twenty-six offices. 
In 1882 the total attendance at the national schools was 
only five thousand, or less than eight per cent of the 
whole population. The annual grant for the purposes of 
education was $50,000. 

The Mosquito coast cuts from Nicaragua a large por- 
tion of her shore-line, precisely as British Honduras robs 
Guatemala of hers ; and this has been a cause of serious 
trouble. This territory, which is about forty miles wide, 
had been under the protection of Great Britain from 1655 
to 1850, when that very un-American document the Clay- 
ton-Bulwer treaty gave England certain rights in her col- 
ony of Belize in exchange for such claims as she had to 
this coast, and by the treaty of Managua, in 1860, she 
formally ceded her protectorate to Nicaragua ; but there 
are still several disputed points. 

Costa Rica. — The fifth and most southern republic of 
Central America has an area of only twenty-one thousand 
square miles. The Atlantic coast is low, and the country 
is covered with a dense forest, while the Pacific slope is 
characterized by wide savannas, or llanuras. Between 
these borders are high volcanoes and an elevated table- 
land three to four thousand feet above the sea, — the 
latter almost the only cultivated land in the State. The 
forests are largely composed of very valuable trees, — 
mahogany, ebony, brazil-wood, and oak; and the usual 
tropical fruits grow well. Coffee, however, is the staple 
export, being grown extensively in the neighborhood of 
San Jose and Cartago; the soil most favorable being dark 
volcanic ash, from three to eighteen feet deep. The 
amount exported in 1874 was valued at $4,464,000 ; in 
1885 the amount is placed at $4,219,617. 



22 



GUATEMALA. 



On the Atlantic side Puerto Limon is the chief com- 
mercial town, and on the Pacific, Punta Arenas. In 
1871 the Government negotiated a loan in London of 
|5,000,000, and the next year another of $12,000,000, 

— but from both of them never received more than 
$5,058,059.60, — with the avowed intention of building 
an inter-oceanic railway between the two principal ports ; 
but only detached portions have been built, — twenty-four 
miles from Alajuela to Cartago, sixty from Limon to Car- 
rillo, and six from Punta Arenas to Esparta. The country 
is bankrupt, and makes no attempt to pay any part of its 
liabilities ; indeed, its revenues, derived from intolerable 
duties (even on the export of coffee), monopolies of spirits 
and tobacco, national bank, sales of land, and internal 
taxes, do not balance the expenditures. 

The legislature is composed of a Congress of Deputies, 

— one for each electoral district, — holding office six 
years, half being renewed every three years. The mem- 
bers of the Corte de Justicia are elected by Congress. 
The present constitution (from 1871) is the seventh that 
has been in force. The departments are, — 



Departments. 


Chief Cities. 




San Jose . . 


45,000 


San Jose 


15,000 


Cartago . 


36,000 


Cartago .... 


10,000 


Heredia . 


30,000 


Heredia .... 


9,000 


Alajuela 


29,000 


Alajuela . . . 


6,000 


Guanacaste 


8,000 


Liberia .... 


2,000 


Punta Arenas . 


6,000 


Punta Ai'enas . . 


1,800 



The population is estimated by M. Belly. 

Both the northern boundary on Nicaragua, and the 
southern one on Columbia, are in dispute.-^ 



1 Guatemala has been accepted (1886) by both Nicaragua and Costa Rica 
as referee in the boundary dispute. 



THE KINGDOM OF GUATEMALA. 23 

I have endeavored to give most briefly the chief mat- 
ters of importance relating to the four republics that, with 
Guatemala, constitute Central America. I am well aw^are 
that I have turned, that I can turn but little light on 
the darkness ; too little is known of the country, beyond 
its trade and political relations to the rest of the world. 
Volcanoes, earthquakes, and revolutions have popularly 
been associated with the whole region, and public taste 
has been turned away from such unpleasant outbreaks of 
subterranean fires or human passions. The time will 
come when these regions, far more fertile and accessible 
than those African wilds that for a score of years have 
interested, strangely enough, both explorer and capitalist, 
will claim the attention due their natural merits ; and 
the fertile plains will be the garden and orchard of the 
United States, — not necessarily by political annexation, 
but by commercial intercourse. All our sugar, all our 
coffee, all our rice, all our chocolate, all our india-rubber 
ought to come from Central America, where these pro- 
ducts can be raised better and cheaper than in any other 
country ; and next to these staples, the subsidiary fruits, 
as oranges, plantains, bananas, pines, limes, granadillas, 
aguacates, and dozens of others now unknown to com- 
merce, ought to come to us from Limon, Puerto Cortez, 
and Livingston. These are to be obtained in Guatemala 
of better quality and in better order than in the "West 
Indies. Louisiana would then perhaps give up the un- 
natural cultivation of sugar, and Florida cease her use- 
less striving to raise really good oranges, and both States 
turn to the products they are better fitted for raising. 

I will ask you to go with me through the republic 
of Guatemala, and to see it, so far as you can, with my 



24 



GUATEMALA. 



eyes ; and until that journey is ended, we will leave the 
story of the old times, the present system of government, 
the ethnology, the volcanoes, the flora and fauna, to 
chapters by themselves, even if the unsystematic arrange- 
ment should savor strongly of the irregularity of the 
land we journey through. 




Luciano Calletano (Captain at Chocon). 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 

yV S the steamer anchors far from the shore at the 
Jr\^ port of Livingston, the traveller sees almost ex- 
actly what the Spaniards saw, — earth, sky, and sea, — 
so little change have four centuries wrought on the outer 
shores of Guatemala. Northward are the picturesque 
hills of British Honduras, backed by the blue summits 
of the Cockscomb range ; southward the majestic San 
Gil, bearing like another Atlas the clouds on his broad 
shoulders ; eastward the low Cays, covered with the 
feathery coconuts ; before him the shore, here marked 
by a long limestone cliff crowned by the palm-sheltered 
houses of the Caribs, while farther to the westward 
rise the Santa Cruz mountains. The yellow waters of 
some great river lave the vessel's sides ; but no break 
is visible in the landward horizon. 

For a while all is as it was when Hernan Cortez, in 
the year 1525, came to this shore after his terrible 
march from Mexico. There was even then a little vil- 
lage on the high bluff ; and he found two of his country- 
men gathering sapotes {Lucuma mammosa) to save the 
little colony of Spaniards, a few leagues farther south, 
from starving. Waiting in the early dawn for the land- 
ing-boats, I cannot but recall the ancient times ; imagina- 



26 GUATEMALA. 

tion sinks the great steamer into the little caravel, and 
the feelings of the conquistador es are mine for the time. 
Soon the white sails drop out from the foliage, the canoes 
are seen rapidly approaching, and the chatter of Caribs, 
both men and women, banishes all day-dreams. 

The '' Progreso," once a Buzzard Bay racer, sails rapidly 
out and takes on board her cargo, — my friend, his mother, 
and myself, and traps of no light weight. Her bows 
are soon turned landward, and as she glides along, all 
the features of the shore unfold, — the coco-palms of 
marked luxuriance, the thatched houses with shining 
white walls, the limestone cliif almost covered with con- 
volvulus and other foliage, the narrow beach, the canoes 
of various size and shape. We turn a point, and the town 
of Livingston is before us, and we are in the mouth of 
the Rio Dulce. 

On the shore the only prominent building is the cus- 
tom-house, built before Livingston was declared a free 
port ; and in front of this is a low, dilapidated wharf, at 
which our tender landed us, the water being not more 
than fifteen inches deep. The tides here are less than a 
foot, so that shoal-water keeps boats of any size at a dis- 
tance, making landing difficult. It was comforting to 
know that a charter for a wharf had been obtained, and 
that our successors may land with greater ease. 

We did not find the heat greater than on the steamer 
in the offing, and even the necessary bustle and trouble 
in getting luggage transferred to the backs of men did 
not cause discomfort. The custom-house and a few 
offices occupy the front of an amphitheatre with very 
steep sides, above which is the town. Springs burst 
from the gravel and furnish pools for the washerwomen, 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 



27 



whose sturdy, yet graceful forms, barely concealed by 
their scanty garb, are very attractive. Some stood in 
the clear pools, others bent over the washing-stones, 
some played with their children in the water, while 
others climbed the steep path to the town, carrying a 
head-burden of great weight. 

' ^ 1 




Barrack Point, Livingston. 

Our abode was on the Campo Santo Vie jo, the burial- 
hill of former days, and right across our path lay the 
empty tomb of a son of Carrera, the former President of 
Guatemala ; as we passed this we noted the admirable 
mortar with which its bricks were laid, — so strong that 
no brick can be cut out whole. On this resting-place 
of perished Caribs the foreign inhabitants of Livingston 
dwell. It is the west end of the town, and overlooks 



28 GUATEMALA. 

both the river and the native town, where are also the 
stores and the hotels. 

All descriptions of a growing town must be unsatis- 
factory, so rapidly does the population and topography 
change ; and a few words may convey all the geographical 
knowledge needed. Rolling ground, which might easily 
be drained, but is not ; streets generally at right angles, 
none paved, and most of them exceedingly muddy in 
wet weather ; fences of the rudest form, mostly sticks 
bound together with vines ; houses with walls of adobe 
or of wattle, in both cases covered with mud plaster 
and whitewashed, none of them over one story, but with 
high roofs thatched with palm ; yards, but no gardens ; 
stores here and there built of boards from New Orleans, 
and occupied by foreigners, — French, Germans, Italians, 
Americans {del Norte) ; a dilapidated chapel on or 
among the neglected foundations of an intended church ; 
beyond this the barracks on a beautiful point ; children 
of all ages playing in the dirt and merrily greeting 
the passer-by with their black, shiny, healthy faces ; 
palm-trees, mangoes, sapotes, bread-fruit, oranges, anonas, 
bananas, and coffee-trees scattered withoat order, and 
wholly uncultivated, — make the external features of 
this place. No vehicles are in the streets, though a 
few horses roam untethered through the town. Every 
burden is carried on the heads of men or women. The 
house-doors are all open ; but the interior is generally 
too dark to disclose much of the inner mysteries to the 
stranger. Westward from the town lies the new Campo 
Santo, and beyond this the almost impenetrable forest. 

The situation of Livingston is good, — at the mouth of 
one of the finest rivers of the Atlantic coast of Central 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 29 

America. The climate is very healthful and agreeable, 
and the frequent communication by two lines of steamers 
with New Orleans, one line with New York, and another 
with Liverpool, make it an important business-centre. 
All the fine coffee from Alta Verapaz and the fruit from 
tlie plantations on the Chocon and Polochic is shipped 
here ; and the product might be indefinitely increased. 
The drawbacks are a bar with only a fathom of water 
at the mouth of a river navigable otherwise for many 
miles by the largest steamers, no wharves, little enterprise 
on the part of the native inhabitants, and a frequent sea- 
breeze in the afternoon, which sometimes makes landing 
through the rough water on the bar unpleasant. The 
population is about two thousand, chiefly Caribs ; and 
long inaction and complete lack of enterprise have pro- 
duced a people poor and careless of riches if obtained at 
the price of labor. As in all similar places, there is no 
lack of adventurers of the lowest character. 

All this matter is not, however, learned at once, and 
observation must be depended on rather than report ; for 
the merchants of Livingston see the prospects of their 
town in very different lights when talking with a mere 
visitor or with a possible rival in the small but very 
profitable business. As a stranger, I was told that the 
place was an el dorado ; that limitless crops grew with- 
out urging from a soil of unequalled richness ; that the 
climate was salubrious, and eternal summer reigned ; that 
business was brisk, and constantly increasing under wise 
laws and a favoring government. As a settler, the song 
was sung to me in a minor key : labor was not to be had ; 
no good lands could be obtained ; the steamers were the 
tyrants of the place, and all earnings were eaten up by 



30 GUATEMALA. 

freights. Then there were the warning cries of those 
unfortunate men who wanted to make money in a newly 
opened country, but had not the necessary courage and 
endurance for a pioneer. They had not met success, and 
they had not grit enough to seek it. Micawbers far from 
home, they waited for something to turn up. 

The process of finding out about the place was not an 
unpleasant one ; it was what we had come for, and we 
began it the first day at breakfast. While we lodged in 
our house on the hill, we took our meal^ — with the ex- 
ception of early coffee and rolls — in the town at the house 
of Senor Castellan ; and they were in genuine Hispano- 
American style. Eleven o'clock is the hour for almuerzo, 
or breakfast, and thus the time for ceasing work and 
taking the needed midday rest. Late in the afternoon 
came the comida, or dinner, — differing from breakfast only 
in the occasional provision of dulces, or sw^eetmeats. The 
me7iic was constant ; an oily soup, beans black or white, 
beef or chicken stew with chillis, fish, bread, and coffee, 
formed the almost unvarying round. Our waiters were 
two little boys, — one the son of our host, the other his 
ward. With our coffee we generally had fresh milk ; but 
when the supply of this failed, a can of condensed milk 
took its place. Not infrequently the sugar also failed ; 
and then one of the boys ran to the nearest store and 
bought half a pound of a coarse brown kind, and replen- 
ished the saucer that did duty as sugar-bowl. No supply 
of anything was ever kept in the house. 

Our dining-room was dark, — the only light coming 
from the open doors at either end. There was but the 
earth, hard trodden, for the floor, and the furnishing was 
simple enough, — a rough table and half a dozen rickety 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 31 

chairs. A tablecloth served also for napkins, and the 
dishes were of many patterns, colors, and degrees of 
dirtiness. It seemed absurd to call for a clean plate ; but 
we did so, to see what would happen. Besides our 
own party of four, we had a padre and an Italian as 
fellow-boarders ; and a little observation of the habits 
of these polite friends helped us much in our new 
circumstances. 

A large tame duck used to waddle under my chair, 
and at last would take bits of tortilla from my hand. 
Several mangy dogs and cats had to be driven out when- 
ever we sat down to eat ; but the hens were not disturbed, 
for they contributed so much to our larder that they 
were privileged, and one nested in an old felt hat on a 
corner shelf, while another came cackling out of one of 
the dark bedrooms that opened on either side. In spite 
of all these drawbacks, we liked the cookery, and did 
ample justice to it. 

As the ancient Romans in their luxury had entertain- 
ment for the eye as they reclined at meat, we in our 
simplicity had a constantly moving panorama at our 
street door. Stout Carib women, straight as one could 
wish, walked by, with every burden, however insignifi- 
cant, balanced on the head. Half a pound of sugar or a 
dose of salts would be placed above the turban as surely 
as would a heavy jar of water or a house-timber. Some 
fine forms, both of men and women, made part of this 
procession ; and the latter wore garments short at either 
end, fastened over one shoulder only, and displaying the 
bust perfectly. A soldier came along once in a while, 
but only his cap and musket told his class. Boys wrest- 
ling but seldom fighting, dogs fighting for a bone, — all 



32 GUATEMALA. 

helped us to prolong our meal. It was difficult to make 
the boys understand that they must not spit on the floor 
as they handed us the dishes. A large brick oven in the 
courtyard furnished bread for a number of families, and 
good bread. 

In our walks about the town we were often politely 
invited into the houses, and so had a chance to see the 
cassava bread making. The tuberous roots of the manioc 
[Manihot utilissima) often attain a weight of twenty or 
thirty pounds, and are full of a poisonous juice, deadly when 
swallowed. A mahogany board is provided, into which 
broken crystals of quartz are inserted, and this serves to 
grate the root into a coarse meal, which is washed care- 
fully (the starch is partly removed, and settles in the 
water as tapioca), and is then placed in a long sack of 
basket-work, called very appropriately serjnente. This 
ingenious press is fastened at one end to a house-beam, 
while on a lever placed through the loop at the other end 
all the children of the family sit in turn, or together if 
they are small ; and the squeezed mass is dexterously 
made afterwards into flat loaves about three feet in diam- 
eter, and not more than a quarter of an inch thick, dried, 
and then baked. The result is a wholesome and very 
nutritious bread, which keeps a long time and is capital 
on an excursion. Later on, when our own housekeeping 
was in order, we found it made excellent puddings, and 
was better than crackers in soup ; while in the woods 
it was indispensable. It is also a capital diet in dys- 
pepsia, can be eaten in sea-sickness when all other food 
is rejected, and serves to fill out the bony outlines of an 
emaciated human frame better than anything else. The 
clean white loaves can be easily exported, and are very 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 33 

attractive. Fine oranges we bought from a tree in the 
yard of our cassava-maker at ten for a medio (five 
cents). 

The fine view from the fort can be seen in the illus- 
tration ; but as Frank and I stepped over the low wall 
and set up the camera to photograph it, we attracted the 
attention of the officer in charge, who at once ordered us 
to come to him. A convenient temporary ignorance of 
Spanish delayed us until the view was secured and a 
squad of soldiers sent to arrest us, when the officer 
wanted to know what we were " telegraphing in the fort 
for." With a very few words I exposed his ignorance to 
his soldiers, who laughed as heartily at him as if they 
had not been quite as stupid as he ; and he begged us to 
leave at once. Of this same garrison it is related that 
some years ago a French corvette anchored off the point 
and fired a salute. The first gun was all right ; but the 
second astonished the valiant soldiers, and at the third 
they all threw down their guns and fled to the bush, fully 
convinced that an attack on the village was intended. 
After a while boys were sent out into the woods to tell 
these warriors that it was safe to come home. The light- 
house here, which all incoming vessels are taxed to main- 
tain, consists of a stout pole ; but the lantern has been 
broken, and not replaced. 

Below this military post is the usual landing-place for 
canoas. These are nearly all dug out of single mahogany 
or cedar logs, and are not only well made, but of good 
form. Some are forty feet long and six feet wide. The 
paddles were of mahogany, and the women paddled as 
well and powerfully as the men ; both, indeed, seemed 
to be quite at home on the water. 

3 



34 GUATEMALA. 

Some of the incoming canoes were laden with coco- 
nuts, others with bananas and plantains from the little 
fincas along the coast, and yet others with fish. The 
last we noted more carefully, as there is no fish-market 
in Livingston, and the fish are always interesting to a 
stranger ; for odd and various as may be the fruits of a 
new clime, the produce of the sea generally surpasses 
that of the land in curious forms. There were some of 
the oddest of the Central American waters ; and the man 
who first ate them must have been very brave or very 
hungry. One of them had flesh resembling beef in color, 
and good and substantial when cooked. 

Paths about the town are narrow and grass-grown, and 
the hooked seeds of a Desmodium cling to the clothes, 
and the thorns of the sensitive-plant {Mimosa j)udicans) 
scratch the bare feet of the passer ; but worse than all 
these, in the grass are tiny insects called coloradia, 
which bite the ankles and other exposed parts, causing 
red spots and an intolerable itching, — easily allayed, 
however, by salt-water or bay-rum applications. Mos- 
quitoes were not troublesome, and we used no nettings ; 
nor did we see any house-flies. 

A bath in the Rio Dulce was tempered by the dread of 
sharks ; and refreshing as the sweet water was, there 
was a self-congratulatory feeling on getting safely back 
to the huge square-hewn mahogany logs that served for 
dressing-room. 

To the outward world Livingston is principally inter- 
esting as the free port of Guatemala, — the outlet of the 
coffee of Alta Verapaz and the fruits of the Atlantic 
coast-region. In its early history it was a settlement of 
Caribs, — those splendid negroes who were driven from 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS, 35 

the islands of the sea, which still bear their name, when 
the Spaniards enslaved or destroyed their fellow-owners of 
the land. Its situation at the entrance of the chief water- 
way to the interior and the capital soon marked it for a 
Spanish post ; but the buccaneers were too powerful, and 
before their advance the port of entry was moved far up 
the Rio Dulce to Izabal, on the lake of that name, — the 
fort of San Felipe blocking the way to these lawless ene- 
mies. Not only pirates, but the Home Government has- 
tened the decay and disuse of this port, and the banks of the 
Rio Dulce were of little importance, except to the mahog- 
any-cutters and sarsaparilla-gatherers, for two centuries. 

An enlightened Government, in fostering the immense 
agricultural wealth of Guatemala, turned the attention of 
foreign capital, first to the rich coffee-lands in the neigh- 
borhood of Cohan, and later to the even richer fruit-lands 
of the valleys east of the high table-lands of the interior. 
The outlet for all the produce was by the Polochic, and 
the shipping-port was Livingston ; so the little village 
built by the exiled Caribals (cannibals) has been gradually 
occupied by business men of various nations, until now 
the population may be nearly two thousand. The shores 
are high and healthful, and the anchorage within the 
river is secure. Dredging would easily open a channel, 
and jetties like those placed in the Mississippi by Captain 
Eads would doubtless keep the way open ; for the current 
is frequently very strong, but now wastes its strength 
over a mile of shoal-water. At present all the ocean 
steamers lie at anchor outside ; and consequently the 
lighterage is an important business. 

In the immediate neighborhood of this port, and acces- 
sible by water, are lands pre-eminently adapted for sugar 



36 GUATEMALA. 

or cotton cultivation ; although now, owing to the smaller 
capital required, and speedier returns, bananas and plan- 
tains are the chief products. The Government deter- 
niined to develop these lands, — which have hitherto 
been left to the solitude of their dense forests and the 
occasional intrusion of the mahogany-cutter, — and in 
1882 declared Livingston a free port, including in its 
territory a large triangular part of the eastern coast. 
The public lands were then offered for sale at reasonable 
rates ; and in consequence, several capitalists from the 
United States have purchased large tracts, and are cul- 
tivating soil perhaps_ the most fertile on the continent. 

Climatic changes are insensible here, and it may trul}^ 
Ibe said that the one season is summer. Never has yel- 
low fever or other dangerous zymotic disease visited 
Livingston, and the death-rate is about one quarter that 
of Boston. The rapid increase of its population and 
commercial importance will make imperative the demand 
for improved harbor and wharf facilities. 

Ten miles to the south of Livingston is the fine harbor 
of Santo Tomas, where in 1843 a Belgian colony was es- 
tablished ; and as this unfortunate attempt has given an 
ill reputation to all Central America, it is well to state 
that failure was by no means due to the insalubrity of 
the climate, but to the want of foresight of the projectors 
and the abject ignorance of tropical trials on the j)art of 
the immigrants. Landed in an unaccustomed climate, in 
the wet season, without shelter, and inadequately pro- 
visioned, they lost heart, health, or life itself. 

Pioneers and frontiersmen should not be recruited 
from shops and counters. The pluck and caution needed 
for a struggle with untried conditions, the determination 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 37 

to be content with slim comforts and undaunted in the 
face of every discoiiragement, looking always to the final 
result, experience shows cannot be found in this class. 
They do well enough as eleventh-hour assistants, when 
the strong men have felled the forest and broken the 
ground and built houses and shops for these weaker but 
still useful brothers ; but the first colonists must be of 
sterner stuff. Probably, had shelter and good food been 
provided for those inexperienced Belgians, there would 
have been at Santo Tomas something more to-day than 
the memory of their visit. 

In 1881 the little town contained but one hundred and 
twenty-nine inhabitants, mostly fishermen ; but the con- 
struction of the Ferro-carril del Norte, to connect the 
capital with the Atlantic, changed for a time the sleepy 
hamlet into the busy haunt of contractors and laborers. 
The exigencies of the railroad calling for the deepest 
water, however, the new town of Port Barrios has been 
founded, some three miles to the eastward of the ancient 
village. Curiously enough, the Bay of Santo Tomas has 
no river ; but it lies between the Rio Dulce and the 
Motagua. 

From Livingston to New Orleans the distance is 900 
miles ; to Belize, 125 ; to Kingston, Jamaica, 800 ; to 
Puerto Cortez (Caballos), 55 ; to Izabal, 45 ; to Pansos, 
90 ; and to Guatemala City (water to Izabal, and mule- 
path thence), 120. The usual steamer time from New 
Orleans is six days, including a stop of two days at 
Belize ; from New York, ten days, including stops at 
Kingston and Belize ; and three days should be ample to 
New Orleans, seven to New York, and eight to Boston. 
A glance at a map will show that the course as well as 



38 GUATEMALA. 

the distance between Livingston and New York is much 
in favor of that route over the better-known one from 
Aspinwall to the metropolis ; and when to this saving 
of time and avoidance of the dangers of navigation is 
added the greater facilities for raising and shipping fruit 
which Livingston is now developing, there is great proba- 
bility that New Orleans will not long be allowed to absorb 
all the bananas, plantains, and pines, or England all the 
coifee and mahogany, shipped at Livingston. 

The natural advantages of a port and the conveniences 
of trade between that and other countries are of small 
moment if there is nothing beyond the port; and one must 
look well into the interior of the country to see its pov- 
erty or richness. Before crossing the republic, the fruit- 
lands of Livingston are worthy of exploration. The little 
plantations at Cocali, on the coast northward, and those 
along the banks of the Rio Dulce, are easily seen, and in 
their present condition offer nothing new or esj)ecially 
interesting. Bananas and plantains are almost the only 
23roduct of commercial importance ; for the pines grow 
wild, cassava, bread-fruit, mangoes, and sapotes are not 
exported, and the coconut is native on the shores. 

No systematic cultivation is known in this region, and 
the crops grow very much as they did in the Garden of 
Eden. Plantation-work consists of clearing the land of 
forest (which is done in January and February), allowing 
the felled trees to dry, burning in May, and planting in 
June. No plough ever furrows the rich ground, and the 
hoe is suihcient for the planter's needs, while most handy 
for the laborers. As may be supposed, the labor of keep- 
ing the crops clear of weeds is considerable, but not so 
great as on our Northern farms ; for although the vege- 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTION'S. 39 

table growth is very rapid, the country is as yet free from 
foreign weeds. With us the most rapidly growing and 
pernicious weeds have all been imported ; and on the 
Hawaiian Islands the vegetable growths that have laid 
waste thousands of acres of the best pasturage are the 
lantana, verbena, and indigo, not one of them indigenous. 
In the course of years cultivation may bring these agri- 
cultural curses ; but at present the Guatemalan planter in 
Livingston has only palms, canes, ferns, ginger, and other 
easily eradicated plants to contend with. 

Indian corn (maiz) is planted in slight holes made with 
a stick and covered with the foot, and seed planted on 
Thursday has been found four inches high on the follow- 
ing Monday. The stalks are sometimes seventeen feet 
high, and average three ears each ; only ninety days are 
required to mature the crop, which is gathered three times 
each year. Upland rice is scattered broadcast on the soil, 
and the straw grows six feet high, with generous heads, 
yielding the finest rice known ; two crops can be raised 
each year. Sugar-cane has been found to yield three tons 
of sugar per acre for twenty years without replanting, — 
a result unknown in any other sugar-country. At present 
there are no mills in eastern Guatemala, and only enough 
cane is planted to supply the demand for eating, or rather 
chewing. 

Bananas have within the last ten years become very 
common all over the United States, and every one is fa- 
miliar with the imported varieties ; but few are aware that 
the varieties grown in the tropics exceed two hundred, 
many of them too delicate to bear transportation, and as 
far superior to the common sorts as a choice table-apple 
surpasses the cider-apple of our New England pastures. 



40 GUATEMALA. 

The kinds of banana most raised near Livingston are the 
same as those of Aspinwall ; but the quality is superior. 
Plantains are grown even more commonly than bananas, 
and the domestic consumption is much greater. Among 
Northern fruit-dealers the banana and plantain are fre- 
quently confounded; but they are as different as pears 
and apples. To grow either, simply requires planting of 
suckers, which in nine months should bear a bunch of 
fruit. The stem is now cut down, and from its base 
sprout several suckers, all over three being removed for 
planting elsewhere. It is only necessary to remove the 
finished stem, and extra suckers to insure crops for a 
long series of years. No attempt has been made to use 
the valuable fibre, of which there is an average of three 
pounds to a stalk. 

When we turn from what is done here to the consider- 
ation of what may be, the interest vastly increases ; and 
to this end let the reader join us in an exploration of one 
of the rivers flowing from a valley of great extent and 
unrivalled fertility, but covered with forest, and unknown 
save to the mahogany-cutters and an occasional hunts- 
man. The Rio Chocon is almost unnoticed on the maps, 
and its source unknown ; but it probably rises in the 
Santa Cruz mountains. 

In the middle of October, 1883, the "Progreso" was 
manned and provisioned, and in the early afternoon we 
were on board waiting for the sea-breeze to help us up the 
river. The light wind served to carry us across the Eio 
Dulce, but no more ; and anchoring, we sent three men 
ashore to lay in a supply of plantains, bananas, coconuts, 
and sugar-cane. Travelling in the tropics is usually far 
from luxurious ; and our present outfit was no exception 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 41 

to the rule. Our captain had provided a Jamaica negro 
for cook, Santiago, a half-breed, for montero, or guide in 
the forest, and our crew consisted of Guillermo, an attrac- 
tive looking but bad boy, who was always singing about 
his corazon (heart), Francisco, and two other men, whose 
exact ethnological classification was a puzzle. Our cook, 
his oil-stove and canned provisions filled the little cabin ; 
but the cock-pit was large, and Frank shared with me 
one side, while the captain occupied the other, and at 
night we had a canvas awning over the whole. Folding- 
chairs served for beds as well, and our traps were put into 
the capital water-proof baskets called petdcas. 




Entrance to the Rio Dulce. 



Later than usual the breeze freshened, and we were 
sailing apparently for the spur of San Gil, which stretches 
northward right across the river. As we advanced, the 
walls opened, and we entered a gorge far finer than that 



42 GUATEMALA. 

of the Saguenay ; for the savage cliffs of the wild Cana- 
dian stream are here replaced by white limestone preci- 
pices jealously covered with palms and vines, until only 
here and there could the rock be seen under or through 
its richly colored mantle. The river is deep, in places 
eighteen fathoms, and, except in the overhanging trees, 
there was no place to land on either side for some 
distance. 

Frank shot at a fine pelican, but only broke a wing ; 
and although he pursued the wounded bird rapidly in a 
little cayuco that we had in tow, he did not gain on the 
powerful swimmer until a shot from the " Progreso " 
killed the fugitive, whose remains measured seven feet 
across the wings. Other birds tempted us, but the fast- 
waning daylight warned us against delay ; and as dark- 
ness fell upon us with tropical rapidity, we came to the 
lake-like Golfete, nine miles from Livingston, and an- 
chored for the night off Cayo Paloma (Dove Island), the 
only inhabited spot on the river. Our crew Avent ashore 
for shelter, and we retired under our substantial awning, 
which protected us from the rain which fell in torrents 
during the night. We had found no mosquitoes at Liv- 
ingston, and there were none here ; so our sleep was not 
broken until our boys came on board before daybreak. 
Where we had entered this beautiful lake we strangers 
did not know; and even when the direction was ascer- 
tained, the opening of the river was invisible. Coconut- 
palms and bananas will give a charm to any landscape ; 
yet the little Cayo Paloma hardly needed them, so 
beautiful was it in itself. 

Grand San Gil brushed the clouds from his forehead 
and looked down smilingly upon us in promise of a 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 43 

fair day as we sailed up the Golfete. A short league 
brought us to a curious limestone rock on the northern 
shore, — a regular cube, rising from deep water, and 
capped with a pyramid of foliage. So unusual a forma- 
tion could hardly have failed to attract the aboriginal 
mind ; and there may be on the summit some remains, — 
a sacrificial altar, or stele. We did not go near enough 
to see any way of access ; but the branches seem to hang 
low enough on one side to promise an entrance to an 
active climber, and we determined to try it some other 
day when we had more time.^ 

If the entrance to the Rio Dulce was well concealed, 
that to the Rio Chocon was still harder to find ; and but 
for the rock island, one might try several apparent open- 
ings in the hedge-like border of the stream before enter- 
ing the canal that sweeps in a semicircle into the actual 
river. Two alligators sat, like the porters at an Egyp- 
tian palace, opposite each other at the entrance, but 
dropped incontinently into the stream before our rifles 
were ready, — giving us an unpleasant reminder of what 
we might expect should we take a bath in the cool river. 
From animal to vegetable was but a glance ; and the 
musky odor of the reptiles faded into the fragrance of 
a large purple passion-fiower, which hung so low that 
we slipped into the caijuco, Frank and I, and paddled 
from bank to bank in the little mahogany dug-out, pull- 
ing down branches and vines, shaking out lizards and 
beetles, while humming-birds of almost every bright 
color, and butterflies of hues seldom seen in cooler cli- 
mates, would hardly leave the fragrant flowers we gath- 

^ Another year we climbed the rock and found several interesting plants, 
"but no human remains. 



44 GUATEMALA. 

ered. Nothing could be seen beyond the river, for we 
were in a green lane bordered by all the tropics can 
produce of vegetable life ; and as the day wore on we 
felt the weariness of seeing. A little white passion- 
flower {F. Brighami), with curiously clipped leaves, three 
kinds of morning-glory, a crimson abutilon, and a host 
of plants whose family alone was known to us, had been 
consigned to the plant-press. At first there were no 
palms ; but as we ascended the stream, which was in 
flood, the banks at last appeared, growing gradually 
higher, and only on solid ground could the palms find 
foothold. The cohune [Attalea cohime), with its long 
clusters of hard oily nuts, came first ; then a small pin- 
nate-leaved, graceful, but unknown species ; then an 
astrocarya, with dreadful spines and hard but edible 
nuts ; and finally, on the rocky banks, slender, long- 
stemmed species, and a climbing palm that, like the rat- 
tan, attained a length of several hundred feet. Our first 
glimpse of the family in full force was at the junction of 
the two mouths of the Chocon. Here there is an en- 
largement of the river into a lagoon, and the eastern 
branch looks as large and easily navigable as that we had 
entered. At another time we found this was the case. 
Bambus bent their graceful stems in clusters over the 
water, and here and there tall reeds in blossom waved 
their light plumes against the dark-green trees behind 
them. 

With the drift floating down stream we noticed queer 
green things which were evidently vegetable ; but what 
else ? At last we came to some sapoton-trees {Pachira) ; 
and it was their fruit, now ripening, — like in size and 
appearance to a husked coconut. — that furnished our 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 45 

puzzle. The fruits split while on the tree, and drop the 
nuts, which are about as large as a hen's egg, into the 
water, where they soon germinate, and float about with 
expanded cotyledons until caught on some shoal, or at 
the bank, where they take root. 

Not once all day did we see a place to land ; indeed, 
until we had ascended the river several miles there was 
no land, so high was the flood. Dense foliage, suitably 
defended with spines of palm and the no less unpleasant 
thorns of the guilandina and sarsaparilla, hid what might 
be disagreeable of animal life along shore ; and as we 
could not land, neither could we plunge into the cool 
river, — that was already engaged by the alligators. 

As the sun dropped behind the trees we made fast to 
a large post in midstream, starting a whole family of 
little leaf -nosed bats out of a woodpecker's hole in this 
dead tree ; and as our comida was being laid, I explored 
more carefully this curious mooring. Water-logged and 
stranded on the bottom, some twenty feet below us, it 
was a perfect image of life in death ; for every part 
above the water was covered with a luxuriant growth 
not its own, and yet perfectly in place. On one side 
clung three different orchids in seed, a cluster of pepero- 
mias in blossom, and a fine cereus, while mosses and 
ferns quite covered the interstices. We did not at that 
time know the naughty habits of the bright little bats,^ 

1 These were vampire bats (Phyllostoma sp.) ; and several times afterwards 
we saw cattle that had been so severely bitten that the blood was still dripping 
from their shoulders the next morning. These little fellows are about the 
size of an English sparrow; and yet they do as much harm as their much larger 
relatives of South America. They have ventured into our sleeping-room at 
Livingston ; but would generally awaken us by brushing our faces with their 
wings, — perhaps because our feet (the part they usually attack) were covered. 



46 GUATEMALA. 

or we sliould not have slept so quietly ; as it was, the 
mosquitoes were very thick, and only our veils pro- 
tected us. 

It was a strange bed-chamber. The river, black be- 
neath and around us, was silent enough ; for the current 
hardly rippled against our boat, no wind moved the 
leaves, and only our own voices broke the stillness while 
we waited for sleep. Suddenly a sound between a shriek 
and a roar burst almost over our heads. " Tigre," mut- 
tered Frank as he felt for his rifle. It was only a lion- 
bird ; but its terrible cry was repeated until it seemed to 
awake all the nocturnal noises of the forests that stretched 
for fifty miles around us. Howling monkeys {Mycetes 
ur sinus), a shrill water-bird, hooting owls, were all easily 
distinguished by our montero ; and we slept more tran- 
quilly after his explanation, even though we thought we 
felt the rough back of an alligator scrape the bottom 
of our boat. I have heard the real tiger's howl in the 
Sumatran jungle ; but it was not so terrible as this 
wretched bird, nor are the tropical nocturnal noises so 
loud and various in any other place where I have been. 

So far the country through which we passed was worth- 
less for agricultural purposes ; but early the next morning 
we came to an elevated limestone ridge, and beyond this 
outwork the banks grew sensibly higher, until they were 
some twelve feet above the present high water. With 
the higher banks appeared the iguanas ; and I made my 
first shot, — a large female, — which was picked up, while 
three others fell into the water and sank before we could 
reach them. It was some time before I learned to dis- 
tinguish these reptiles ; for they are nearly of the color of 
the branches on which they bask, and until they move, 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 



47 



are to the unpractised eye only a part of the bewildering 
foliage. I did not like to be told where to look, so be- 
fore the day was half gone I could see an iguana as soon 
as a native. 




Female Iguanas. 

A mouth like a toad's, green, glittering eyes, a large 
pendulous dewlap, a row of lancet-shaped spines down 
the back, slender claws, and a long, pointed tail, certainly 
are not features to make the iguana an attractive pet ; 
and yet it is gentle, easily tamed, and there are people 
who enjoy its company. Let not the Northern ladies 
shudder as they look on this picture ; for do they not 
know, are there not among their number those who 
fondle and kiss (!) even the deformed pugs and lap-dogs ? 
Unlike the worthless curs, the iguana is a most excel- 
lent food-animal ; its delicate white meat is not unlike 
chicken, and the eggs — of which the female lays five or 



48 GUATEMALA. 

six dozen — are all yolk, and very delicious.^ Being good 
swimmers, they drop from their perches over the river 
when alarmed, and after a fall sometimes of sixty to 
eighty feet the splash is suggestive of broken ribs, or at 
least a total loss of wind ; but they scramble nimbly up 
the banks under the overhanging shrubs, and are lost in 
the forest. Like the chameleon, they change color, and 
from green of various hues become greenish gray when 
taken from the trees. We had much less difficulty than 
Columbus and his companions experienced in adding these 
" serpentes " to our cosmopolitan bill of fare. 

In the afternoon a boom across the river showed the 
neighborhood of mahogany-cutters, and a short row 
above this brought us to the head of navigation for our 
large boat, and we made fast to a tree on the right bank, 
where there was no clearing nor any easy way to land, 
although we could see that the banks were some ten feet 
above the water, and steep. Leaving the "Progreso " in 
the cook's charge, we continued up stream in the little 
cayuco until we broke a paddle and had to return, — not, 
however, until we had made two landings. 

Once up the steep and slippery bank, we found the 
land level, and in the dense forest there was no under- 
growth. It always seems odd to a stranger m the 

1 "These serpentes are lyke unto crocodiles, saving in bigness; they call 
them guanas. Unto that clay none of owre men durste aduenture to taste of 
them, by reason of theyre horrible deformitie and lothsomnes. Yet the Ad- 
elantado being entysed by the pleasantnes of the king's sister, Anacaona, deter- 
mined to taste the serpentes. But when he felte the flesh thereof to be so 
delycate to his tongue, he fel to amayne without al feare. The which thyng 
his companions perceiuing, were not behynde hym in greedyness ; insomuch 
that they had now none other talke than of the sweetnesse of these serpentes, 
which they affirm to be of more pleasant taste than eyther our phesantes or 
partriches." — Peter Martyr, decad. i. book v. {Eden's Ewjlish translation). 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 49 

tropics, — this entire absence of sod ; but so dense is the 
upper foliage that there is no chance for small plants 
below, except such as can, like the sarsaparilla, climb 
up into the light above, or orchids, like the vanilla, 
which cling to, if they do not draw a part of their sus- 
tenance from, the tree-stems. The cohune palm [Attalea 
cohune, Martins.) was abundant, and by its presence con- 
firmed the testimony of the dark chocolate soil to the 
exceeding fertility of the land. This palm seems to have 
three names applied to as many stages of growth. When 
young and stemless, it is manaca ; in middle age, when 
the bases of the old leaves still cling to the trunk, it is 
cohune ; and when age removes these scales, the smooth 
stem is corbzo. I have never seen the manaca in flower or 
fruit, but I believe the three are but one species. Other 
palms were intermingled with these, — some in blossom, 
some in fruit, — but none so common nor so large, both 
in stem and leaf. Later on we shall see a picture of the 
cohune and its very valuable fruit. 

In one place along the bank I measured fourteen feet of 
soil of the best quality ; nor was this surprising, since the 
valley through which the Rio Chocon flows is a catch-basin 
for the detritus of the limestone ranges of the Sarstun and 
Santa Cruz mountains, and its form guards against tor- 
rential floods which might wash away the rich deposit. 
When the summer rains flood the banks, as we found 
later, the water subsides in a few hours, owing to the 
wide-open lower course of the river. 

A gigantic ceiba-tree {Eriodendron) stood not far from 
the river, and two of its great buttresses enclosed a semi- 
circle thirty feet in diameter, while the projections them- 
selves were not half a foot thick. Trees of very various 

4 



60 GUATEMALA. 

kinds throw out these supports. I have even seen a 
goyava [Fsidium), which usually has a rather slender 




Barbecue at Benito. 



trunk, expand most astonishingly into these buttresses 
when growing in a rich loose soil. It will, not un- 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 51 

naturally, occur to the reader that this must greatly in- 
crease the difficulty of felling such trees in clearing land. 
The difficulty is met by the woodmen in this way. A plat- 
form — called, strangely enough, a " barbecue " — is built 
of slim poles, often to a height of fifteen feet ; and balanced 
on these frail supports, the cutter swings his long-handled 
axe. Of course he leaves a stump as high as his barbecue ; 
but the ants (comajen) soon reduce this to dust. I have 
since then watched the cutters, and have wondered how 
they so speedily fell (they call it "fall") a hard-wood tree, 
with no better vantage than two poles for their bare feet 
to cling to. 

All through the forest there was a close, damp feeling, 
and in some places there was little light. We saw sarsa- 
parilla, india-rubber, vanilla, and cacao growing wild, and 
every step brought some new thing to view ; but it was 
less oppressive on the river, where there was sky above us 
of the true blue, — so much better to our tastes than the 
green canopy that met our eyes as we looked up on land. 
While on the river, we saw some curious long-legged 
spiders, seemingly plastered against the white limestone ;. 
and they were very unwilling to move their legs, which 
were two inches long. The vejucos from the over-hang- 
ing branches were very interesting, as these long, slender 
rootlets, if rootlets they be, hung sometimes a hundred 
feet, ending close to the water, but not touching it except 
in flood-time, nor do they, like subterranean roots, have 
branches or fibrous ends, although sometimes they seem 
to be unravelled into separate strands, like a cord whose 
form they imitate and whose use they usurp. We often 
pulled them and shook the branches from which they 
spring, without detaching them. The water was now 



52 GUATEMALA. 

clear and cool, and everything was enticing us to loiter ; 
but the day was closing, and comida awaiting us on the 
" Progreso." 

The moon that night was full ; and with no mosquitoes 
in the air, we hardly cared to creep under our toldo. The 
light filtered through the palm-leaves and sparkled on the 
black river as it glided around the bend. We could see 
but a few rods either up or down stream, and we almost 
wondered how we came there, and should we ever get 
away. Far in the distance the howls of the monkeys and 
the cries of the night-birds broke the stillness around us ; 
but we slept unconscious of the shower that poured on our 
toldo before morning. 

A very bright, warm morning in the middle of October 
is not unpleasant in the temperate zone ; but here it seemed 
almost too warm to be seasonable, although the thermome- 
ter persisted in indicating 83°. Five of us were in our 
little cayuco at early dawn on our way down stream. 
The cayuco was not especially crank, but it was loaded to 
the water's edge with five solid men ; and as my hands 
grasped the gunwales, my fingers dij^ped in water on both 
sides. It was impossible for me to restrain the attempt 
to balance, which of course kept the cayuco in a constant 
quiver, alike unpleasant to myself and my companions. 
Add to this the consciousness that alligators were ready 
for us if we did upset, and it will be supposed that the 
voyage was not altogether agreeable. 

We landed at last, and had a hard scramble up the steep, 
muddy bank, as many of the palms were armed with spines 
like needles {Acrocomia sp.), and there was little else to 
catch by. I was on the watch for snakes, and had my ma- 
chete in my hand ; but the first living denizen of the forest 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 53 

that met me was a fine blue butterfly (Morpho), nearly eight 
inches across. I could not, and Guillermo would not, catch 
it, because he said it was mala por los ojos (bad for the 
eyes). It was a " sight for sair e'en." I found this curious 
superstition about butterflies common all through the coun- 
try, and I confess that following their brilliantly colored 
wings in their rapid flight, under a blazing sun, does give 
one's eyes a very tired feeling that may explain the origin 
of the popular belief. I will not compel any one to follow 
me through the forest, nor up the steep limestone ridges 
where the corroded rock was worn into fantastic forms 
and partly covered with begonias, lycopodiums, and other 
plants. We found several circular valleys among those 
ridges drained by sink-holes, and often I heard water run- 
ning beneath my feet. In some places were little wells, 
like the cenotes of Yucatan, containing fish, which pass 
from one to another by underground aqueducts. Again 
and again I mistook for serpents the huge, green, scaly 
creepers that flattened themselves against the trees or 
swung from the branches. Sluggish and insignificant 
centipedes were not uncommon on the trees ; but noth- 
ing except tracks of wild hogs, peccaries, jaguars, and 
tapirs indicated that the forest was the resort of trouble- 
some animals. The entire absence of any fallen or de- 
caying trees or dead branches was a marked feature of 
this forest. The insects had eaten all this unpleasant 
matter ; and in one place we saw a cavity as large as a 
barrel, where the ants had eaten a palm-stump, leaving 
only the fibrous roots to keep the earth in place about 
the large hole. 

Towards noon the air, loaded with moisture and un- 
moved by any wind in the forest, became almost nnbear- 




54 GUATEMALA. 

able, and we V\^ere parched with thirst. Santiago came to 
our aid ; and selecting a rough-looking vine, of which we 
could not see the leaves, cut from it a length of some three 
feet, and from this trickled a tumblerful of clear, cool, 
tasteless water. This vejuco de agua was as large as 
a man's wrist, of tender substance and very porous. The 
mozos declared that if the vejuco was 
cut only once, the juice would all run 
up from the pendent end ; so it was 
necessary to cut at once above, and 
block its retreat. On the palm-trees 
Section of wcrc ofteu found clusters of nuts of 

Vejuco de Agua. 

various sizes, some with such hard 
shells that even the parrots must have been baffled. We 
cracked several kinds, and found them more woody and 
less oily than the coconut. Several mahogany-trees came 
in our way, and they impressed me more than the sequoias 
of California or the banians and baobabs of India. Rising 
with a straight and uniform stem far above the surround- 
ing trees, they then spread their dense foliage like a 
massive oak above the tree-top plane. Rosewood, palo de 
mulatto, sapodilla, iron wood, and many other kinds were 
recognized, and our exploration ended for the day with a 
bath on board the boat, in which we dashed the cool river 
water over each other. The air was 86°, while the water 
was 78°. Our men who had been sent up stream to build 
a cJiampa, or native house, returned to us at sundown in 
true monkey style, swinging down on to the boat from the 
branches of the tree overhanging the " Progreso." The ab- 
sence of mosquitoes puzzled us, as it had the night before. 
After the rain ceased, the next morning about seven, 
we paddled up stream in the cayuco. I have never seen 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 



55 



rocks so curiously corroded ; in some places they were like 
fossil bones of mammoth size, then like battered capitals 
and fluted columns, always of rather smooth surface, 
sometimes quite perforated. In the hollows were ferns, 
selaginellas, and sometimes curious sjoiders ; one rock 
was just like some monster crawling into the river. On 




Dragon Rock, Chocon. 



the right bank several small springs trickled in, and on the 
other side a swift-flowing creek added materially to the 
volume of the river. Still we were getting into shallower 
water, and after passing in one way and another fifteen 
rapids or corrientes, we came to a huge tree that com- 
pletely blocked our way. With a satisfied feeling, we de- 
clined to drag our heavy cayuco over, but beached her on 



56 GUATEMALA. 

a sand-spit, and waited for the return through the forest 
of part of our men whom we had sent to explore inland. 
Wild figs of good size came tumbling into the stream from 
the trees above ; but they were not to our taste, although 
Guillermo said they were eaten when ripe. While we 
waited, a large canoe came down from the mahogany re- 
gion miles above, and the three Caribs in it dragged it over 
the log with great labor. Besides their petacas, they had 
mahogany mortars for rice-hulling, and mahogany plat- 
ters. In the forest their work is task-work, and they often 
have half the day to themselves ; in this leisure time they 
carve the rejected butts into various useful articles, which 
they sell at the Boca, or mouth of the river. As we re- 
turned, we saw another use to which the ever-present 
machete is put ; it is in turn knife, axe, adze, hammer, 
spoon, back-scratcher, shovel, pump-handle, door-bolt, 
blind-fastener, — and now a fishing-rod ! Guillermo ac- 
tually split the head of a large fish that was in the shadow 
of a rock, — a fish weighing some five pounds ! • 

In the afternoon we inspected the champa our men had 
been building. The building process was certainly a novel 
one. On receiving our orders, the Caribs held a brief con- 
sultation, chattering in their very unattractive language ; 
while we knew no more of their talk than we knew of 
the intelligent ants, who are equally black, and hold their 
consultations unbeknown to us. The result was, however, 
that they sep.arated and disappeared in the forest. Soon 
we heard the blows of the machetes ; and then they came 
straggling back, two with the aiicones or main posts of 
the house, others with side-posts, rafters, coils of vejucos, 
and bundles of manaca-leaves. In an incredibh^ short 
time the frame was tied together. The thatching with the 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 57 

palm-leaves took longer, as it was necessary to split each 
of the immense leaves, which were quite thirty feet long. 
These were tied on to the rafters closely, like clapboards, 
and formed an excellent roof, only surpassed by that made 
of another palm, called confra, found nearer the sea, 
which is so durable as to last eight or ten years. Butts 
of the maucica formed the sides of the champa ; and then 
we had a house large enough for twenty men, with the 
labor of five men a day and a half, at a cost of $3.75. 
For our purpose it was better than the Palace of the 
Caesars. 

One morning I explored the tree to which we were 
moored. A fine balloon-vine (Cardiospermum) hung in 
festoons of fragrant flowers from the branches ; among 
them was a humming-bird's nest fashioned as daintily as 
usual of the golden down of tree-ferns, and shingled with 
bits of lichens. It was not the season for eggs ; but I have 
at other times found many nests, with never more than 
two white eggs of the size of a small bean. The young 
birds, 1 may add, are, when first hatched, most amusing 
little things, all heads and eyes, and without the long 
bill of maturer days. I found also a green grasshopper 
{Tropideres), five inches long, and very handsome of his 
kind. I wondered if he ate sugar-cane, and other things 
one might want to grow if living in the champa. 

One day, going ashore to cut some sticks for an 
awning on the canoa, I hacked with my machete at a 
tall, slim tree very common along the banks, and which 
had often bothered me by its curled, dried leaves, cling- 
ing to the tree and looking very much like the doves 
(qualm) which were so often on the tree that it is named 
for them. This tree, which is botanically known as a 



58 GUATEMALA. 

cecropia, one of the nettle family, had a hollow trunk 
divided transversely by thin partitions, and from this 
cavity came a swarm of ants. I had here a chance to 
verify the interesting description given by Mr. Belt ^ of 
the habits of these remarkable creatures. As he says, 
they get into the tree by boring a small hole, and then 
eat their way through the many floors of this vegetable 
tower ; they do not, however, eat the tree directly for 
sustenance, but import with great care numbers of coc- 
cidae, or scale-insects, to feed on the tree-juices and elab- 
orate a honey-like matter, which the ants eagerly suck 
from a pore on the back of these little cows. I tried in 
vain to find the queen ant ; but while every cecropia that 
I touched was tenanted by ants, never a single female 
came to light. There are several small outer doors, for 
the disturbed stem is dotted with the pugnacious little 
ants in a very short time. What first taught the ants to 
farm these dull, inert coccidse ? Other vegetables are ant- 
inhabited, but none that I know of afford such spacious 
accommodations. 

Pleasant as this life on the river and in the forest 
was, the time came when we must return ; and it was 
startling how many things we saw on om^ way down which 
we had passed unnoticed coming up, — tall reeds with 
feathery blossoms' more graceful than the pampas-grass; 
palms with bluish green foliage ; flowers of the arum 
family more beautiful than a calla ; blue herons ; butter- 
flies of the most attractive colors ; fish like glass, that 
is as transparent, and about a foot long. Frank shot a 
beautiful grossbeak with scarlet breast and metallic green 
back, and brought me a fine purple passion-flower ; an- 

1 The Naturalist in Nicaragua, by Thomas Belt, p. 222. 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 



59 



other of the party shot an alligator, who turned over, 
exposing his j^ellow belly as he died. Altogether, the 
voyage down was more agreeable than the hard run up. 
Trees that were bare a few days before were now covered 
with white feathery flowers, and others presented masses 
of greenish flowers on their flat tops. We sailed and 
floated down the Rio Dulce by moonlight, and at early 
dawn anchored at Livingston. 




San Gil, from Author's House in Livingston. 



Opposite the town are lands fertile and capable of pro- 
ducing fine crops to an enterprising owner. Frank and 
I rowed over several times, once exploring a neglected 
finca, where cane, sapotes, cassava, bananas, plantains, 
rose-apples, and coconuts were all jumbled together ; 
at another time visiting a cacao-plantation farther up 
the stream. There is certainly room for a wise invest- 



60 GUATEMALA. 

ment of capital on these lands on the eastern slope 
of San Gil as far as Santo Tomas. And here let me 
write of this port, Puerto Barrios, and the Northern 
Railroad, although I did not visit them until the spring 
of 1885. 

Santo Tomas is beautifully situated ; but since the sad 
failure of the Belgian colony established there by a 
legislative decree of April, 1843, it has borne a bad 
reputation, and its inhabitants diminished to the insig- 
nificant number of a hundred and twenty-nine by the last 
census. Its harbor, into which no large river empties, is 
an exceedingly good one, and a wharf might be con- 
structed on deep water ; but the authorities, in selecting 
a terminus for the projected railway which is to connect 
Guatemala City with the Atlantic coast, and so unite 
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, chose a place some three 
miles eastward from Santo Tomas, where thej must con- 
struct a wharf some three hundred feet in length to 
reach twenty feet of water, and where often ships can- 
not lie, but must run for Santo Tomas in bad weather. 
Add to this that the site of the fine city of Puerto 
Barrios is a swamp at present uninhabitable, although 
laid out (on paper) in a very attractive way, with 
castle, theatre, hippodrome, and all the elements of a 
Centro- American city of the first rank. The splendid 
mango-trees, with their dark, dense foliage, are abun- 
dant in the old village, while here even the palms are 
dwarfed. 

Arriving at Puerto Barrios late in the afternoon, we 
were kindly received by the contractors, and after an 
exceedingly good supper allotted comfortable beds in the 
large storehouse. We had heard of the cruelty practised 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 61 

towards the workmen on the railroad, and wished to 
know the truth. I of course understood the circum- 
stances under which men were induced to go there 
to work, and knew that agents in New Orleans and 
elsewhere might and did make unauthorized promises 
to the shiftless adventurers who souQ;ht to better their 




Puerto Barrios. 



fortunes in a new land. Men from the North cannot 
do hard manual work in this climate unless they are 
very careful in regard to diet, clothing, and general sani- 
tary conditions. If they get wet, and sleep in their wet 
clothes, they will have a- malarial fever in a newly cleared 
country. If they eat improper food, or proper food at 
improper times, their bowels will certainly protest. Now, 
I was convinced that the contractors did not take these 
precautions with their men, that in consequence of this 



62 GUATEMALA. 

negligence a large amount of sickness resulted, and that 
complaints printed in the newspapers of the United 
States from the sick men were justified. I have seen the 
men who left the railroad and took service on plantations, 
and have talked with them, although I have never men- 
tioned the subject to the several contractors and overseers 
I met ; my opinion is therefore formed from what these 
unfortunate men told me. 

In the morning we were provided with the only hand- 
car the road owns, and began our explorations. I will 
not mention the builders of that car, for it was a worth- 
less article, and had it belonged to me I should have run 
it off the track and down a steep place into the sea. The 
road, of thirty-six inch gauge, was graded (in March, 1885) 
some six miles, and rails were laid four miles ; but the 
thirty-ton locomotive, which had to do the work one of 
half the size could do, could run only over three miles, the 
track was so uneven. Men were cutting sleepers in the 
adjoining forest, and we saw many of mahogany. The 
grade is also being pushed from Tenedores, on the Mota- 
gua River, to meet this end. No great engineering is 
here visible, and the main difficulty seems to have been 
in getting suitable foundations for the bridges over the 
numerous small creeks. Along the track we saw two 
large snakes of the boa family which had been killed by 
the workmen. Some five miles from Puerto Barrios we 
came to the hot sulphur-spring. It is a pool, fifteen feet 
in diameter, close by the track, and pours out a consider- 
able volume of clear, hot water, pleasant to drink when 
cooled, but while in the pool too hot to put one's finger 
in. Bubbles, probably of hydrosulphuric acid, escaped 
freely ; but vegetation extended to the very borders of the 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 



63 



pool, and all around the forest was dense. A cool brook 
ran near at hand and gave a fine bathing-place as the hot 
water mingled with it. We were assured that the men 
who drank the sulphurous hot water never had fever. 




Sulphur Spring. 



From Tenedores the surveyed line of railroad extends 
up the valley of the Motagua to Gualan, thence up the 
ascent to the high plateau on which stands Chiquimula, 
and thence to Guatemala City, where it will connect with 
the road now in operation from that city to San Jose, on 
the Pacific, five thousand feet below. 

Before leaving the Atlantic coast we must again men- 
tion the numerous steamship lines from Livingston to 
New Orleans, New York, Belize, Puerto Cortez, Jamaica, 



64 GUATEMALA. 

and England. Communication may thus be had with 
the best markets for all tropical products. The lowlands 
are amply able to supply New Orleans, New York, and 
Boston with bananas, plantains, pine-apples, and coco- 
nuts, the latter growing most abundantly at Cabo de 
Tres Puntas on Manabique. The climate is healthful 
and not too hot, averaging for the year about 80"" ; and 
as there is no marked change of season, a perpetual June 
seems to exist. Capital alone is wanted to develop this 
Atlantic coast into the great fruit-producing orchard of 
the United States. Sugar-cane grows rapidly ; and so 
strong is the soil that rattoon crops have been cut for 
twenty years without replanting, and no diminution of 
the saccharine yield has been noticed. Sugar can cer- 
tainly be raised much cheaper here than in Cuba or in 
the Hawaiian Islands.-^ One day carries the crop to Belize, 
four days to New Orleans, and eight to Boston or New 
York. Yet, notwithstanding all these advantages, the Nor- 
thern farmer wears out his life in the consumptive fields of 
New England, where his crops grow only four months of 
the year, instead of settling here, where he can plant any 
day of the year (except saints' days, unless lie employ coo- 
lies), and reap a rich harvest in due season. He sometimes 
goes to Florida, which is neither tropical nor temperate, 
which is nothing but a raised coral reef with a veneering 
of soil, and where frosts cut off his crops every few years. 
We often hear of the extreme unhealthfulness of the trop- 
ics ; but is it generally known that more persons die of 
consumption in Massachusetts than of the most dreaded 

^ Should the new product, saccharine, meet with favor, the planting of cane 
will follow the fate of indigo ; and coal-tar will supply the sweet things of 
life as well as the flavors and colors. Coal is " sweetness and light " ! 



THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 65 

tropical diseases in Central America ? The last time an 
official census was taken, Livingston had a population of 
a thousand, in round numbers, and the deaths of the 
year numbered seven, — one a centenarian, and two 
youths who fell from coconut-trees and broke their 
necks ; while in Boston the rate for July, 1885, was 
28.1 per thousand. 

The objection to being among a strange people and 
under a foreign government and strange laws may best 
be met by following me through the country, where my 
object w^as to answer these very objections for myself ; 
and if my readers will patiently follow me, I will tell 
what I saw, and they may form their own opinions. 




Paddle and Machete. 



CHAPTER III. 

ACEOSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWAKD TO COBAN. 

THE last days of October, 1883, promised good weather 
for the hill-country, and Frank and I again left 
Livingston in the only way one can leave it, — by water. 
Our route was as before, — up the Rio Dulce ; but this time 
we had no comfortable but heavy " Progreso." We had, 
however, a better craft for our voyage, — a fine native 
canoa, cut from a single log of a wood they called cedar 
(which it is not) ; its length was thirty feet, and its beam 
five and a half. With two masts and triangular sails, 
this canoa could show good speed with a fair wind ; but 
we cared little for her sailing qualities on the present 
voyage. As there were no ribs, and the thwarts were 
easily removed, we made the after part, which was 
floored, quite comfortable with a temporary roof, or 
toldo ; our luggage was stowed amidships, while our 
captain and two men had their quarters forward when 
not rowing or paddling. We had our coffee-pot (as neces- 
sary a travelling companion in Central America as an 
umbrella in England) and a supply of food for a week ; 
although we hoped our voyage might last less than five 
days. 

The cliffs on the Rio Dulce were as beautiful as ever. 
Theirs is a beauty which never fades with the fading 
year; and yet the changes are very marl^ed. I never 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. G7 

saw such a river, — a very Proteus, it presented a new 
form every time I saw it ; and Frank, who is far more 
familiar with its face, tells me I have never seen it in its 
glory, which comes in July, when the brilliant orchids 
are all aglow. Now a cereus with crimson blossoms 
was prominent ; so were the bromeliads, parasites on 
almost every tree. But among roses 1 saw the thorn. 
Our Caribs discovered a huge serpent asleep on a white 
cliff far above us. Frank, with a laudable blindness to 
all that was not pleasant, could see nothing but a fallen 
tree. I saw only a few feet of the head end, which had 
a diameter of about six inches ; and I obstinately refused 
to fire at the reptile, smce he was quite as near as it was 
desirable to have him, and should my bullet wound but 
not kill him, it was quite possible that he might wriggle 
down into the river below. Porpoises were common far 
up into the Golfete, where they were pursuing the abun- 
dant freshwater fish. A light sea-breeze helping us, we 
anchored for the night far above Cayo Paloma. Our 
mozo, Santiago, slept on one of the thwarts, which he 
exactly fitted, being slightly less hi stature than the 
average New Englander. 

Our anchor was up betimes ; and before six o'clock in 
the morning we came to San Felipe, — a place we both 
had great curiosity to see ; for in the absence of any 
definite account of the old Spanish fort, we allowed our 
imagination to build a very imposing, picturesque, and, 
withal, strong castle. 

We found that Spanish castles in Guatemala were 
almost as unsubstantial as chateaux en Espagne ; and it 
was some time before wc distinguished the Castillo de 
San Felipe through the morning mist. At the outlet of 



68 GUATEMALA. 

the Lago de Izabal the shores approach each other closely, 
— indeed, the channel is hardly a stone's cast broad ; and 
on the northern point stands the fort built in 1655 to 
protect the then important commerce of Izabal from the 
buccaneers.^ It is well built of round (uncut) stone, 
and the waves of the lago dash against the walls, which 
are gradually yielding to the insinuating roots of many 
plants, — even a delicate blue commelyna joining in the 
attack that the seventeenth-century pirates began in vain. 
The van of this vegetable scaling-party was led by a fine 
papaya {Carica papaya), which now towered far above the 
walls with its head of ornamental leaves, but which per- 
ished soon after ; and we saw only the bare stem on our 
return, three months later. 

Passing this medieval ruin, we came to a slight wharf 
of stakes, where we had to undergo a rigid inspection by 
the guarda, who insisted on opening our trunks, in spite 
of a slight shower that was wetting us. But we submitted 
with better grace on reflecting how little amusement of 
any sort the custom-house men could have in this sleepy 
looking place ; and when the nonsense was over we sent 
Santiago with the coffee-pot, which he was told to have 
boiled over somebody's fire. He was also told to get all 
the food he could find ; and this useless wretch brought 
back, as the total result of his foraging, three eggs ! 
Coconut-trees and goyavas were abundant, but no fruit 
could be found. After this very frugal breakfast, — in 
which we did not ask Santiago to join, — we walked to 
the little Comandancia -, but the officials were not visible, 

1 Its armament was approved by the Royal Seal, Nov. 7, 1658, and an 
order of Feb. 26, 1687, provided for its complete repair. The plan is from a 
sketch by F. E. Blaisdell. 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COB AN. 69 



and we entered the old fort, as the only other sight in 
the dirty little town. 

The plan is rather peculiar, but doubtless well suited 
to the defensive warfare of those days. The doorless 
entrance-ports invited us to enter, and we found a court- 
yard of paved and level surface occupying almost- the 
entire area. At the outer end, commanding the channel, 
the bastion was higher than the main portion, approached 
by narrow and winding steps, easily defended ; and here 
was the most curious part of the whole edifice, — the 
gun-deck. There is a law in the Guatemaltecan code 
forbidding photographing in military works ; but I have 
since wished that T had broken that law then and there, 
so that my readers might see for 
themselves the clumsy guns, the 
carriages with wooden wheels, 
the magazine roofed, indeed, 
but doorless, — the whole bus- 
iness as dangerous to the gun- 
ners as to any enemy outside. 
Some fine orange-trees were 
growing up through the pave- 
ment, and their hard green fruit 
would be suitable ammunition 
for the ancient guns. 

There was nothing whatever 
to attract the most curious trav- 
eller in San Felipe, and we sailed 
and paddled on with frequent 
calms and showers. We were completely in the hands 
of our boatmen, whose knowledge of the lago proved 
to be very limited ; but as ours was even less, we suffered 




Castillo de San Felipe. 



70 GUATEMALA. 

them to coast the northern shore, when, as we after- 
wards learned, the law directed our course southward to 
Izabal, the port of entry, where we should have obtahaed 
a permit to proceed on our voyage inland. Our map in- 
dicated the course we selected as the shorter to the mouth 
of the Rio Polochic ; but the map was, as usual, wrong. 

There was not much to see, as the mist and rain hid 
the mountains and hung low on the shores, driving us 
frequently under our rubber roof. Whenever the mist 
lifted we caught glimpses of the far southern shore, with 
the grand wall of the Sierra de las Minas catching the 
fleecy clouds on every black pinnacle ; and the clearing 
sky attracted us still closer to the northern shore, where 
we could see a low wooded country backed by a high 
range of mountains, with here and there an opening 
through which some stream reached the lake. At two 
o'clock we landed at Sauce, on a beach of black sand, 
evidently volcanic, scattered with fragments of chalcedony 
and agatized wood, — a formation which puzzled me ex- 
ceedingly, as all this region is supposed to be non-volcanic. 
We had no time to follow the beach to ascertain the ex- 
tent of black sand, but it reached far beyond the few com- 
fortable huts on the shore, — as far, indeed, as we could 
go into the jungle inland. In it grew luxuriantly limes, 
bananas, mangoes, and other cultivated plants not recog- 
nized. Goyavas grew to a large size, but all the fruit was 
ruined by worms. 

Here first we saw the whole process of tortilla-making. 
The maiz was hulled in lime-water, washed in the lake, 
and ground laboriously on a stone inetatle into a consistent 
paste, which is then skilfully patted into cakes from four 
to six inches in diameter, round and thick as an ordinary 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COB AN. 71 




griddle-cake. These are then baked on an iron plate 
or comal, but not browned, and should be eaten hot, and 
then the tortilla tastes 
like parched corn. The 
metatles in Guatemala 
were all of very simple 
pattern and unornament- 
ed, not so well wrought 
as those in Mexico and 
farther southward, but 
serving their purpose 
equally well. A woman 
who cannot make good 
tortillas is in Guatemala 
not deemed fit to assume 
the duties of housekeep- 
ing ; and yet there are few 
articles of food requiring 

more labor in preparation than this unleavened bread. 
Except the Hawaiian poi (paste of the Colocasium escu- 
lentum or Kalo), I can recall no article of diet that de- 
mands more physical labor. The inhabitants of the tropics 
in both these cases lay aside their proverbial indolence and 
earn their bread by the sweat of their brows. For our men 
we procured meat in long strips put on skewers and 
crisped over the fire, while for ourselves we bought 
bananas, limes, and tortillas. After this we continued 
our voyage until dark, when we anchored near shore 
and enjoyed a very quiet night. At early dawn we 
were again under way. The showers continued, and far 
away on the Santa Cruz range the rains were heavy, 
boding ill for our ascent of the river. The lake water, 



Making Tortillas. 



72 GUATEMALA. 

usually quite potable, was now full of a small green alga, 
and the cast skins of ephemera were so thick on the 
surface that for miles we could with difficult}^ get a dipper 
of clear water. 

Twice our Caribs thought they had found the mouth of 
the Polochic ; and at last, at high noon, we discovered it, 
where we least expected, on a marshy promontory or delta. 
Masses of coarse floating grass were attached to the banks 
on each side, almost blocking the way ; and the rapid cur- 
rent, which we estimated at five miles an hour, made these 
grass plots wave as if the breezes were playing over their 
tops. Pelicans were abundant and tame ; so were the 
iguanas. The air was still, and the thermometer marked 
eighty-five degrees, while the water was much cooler, — 
nine deg;rees. All the creeks in the lowland flowed from 
the river, so high was the flood, and we found no com- 
fortable landing-place. 

At night we anchored in the stream, and the mosquitoes 
were very troublesome ; unlike those on the Chocon, these 
were black, and had very long and sharp lancets. At 
three in the morning we could bear them no longer ; 
Orion was in the zenith, and we struck our toldo, the 
men slowly rowing on until six, when we anchored for 
coffee. As we were eating, a cayuco, covered with a neat 
awning of leaves, came rapidly by us on the way down ; 
its occupants assured us that there w^ere many vueltas 
(bends) and a great current [mucho corriente) before we 
should be able to reach Pansos. 

Ten miles a day was the utmost limit of our propelling 
power, and in crossing the bends to escape the current we 
hardly held our own, so strong were the flood-waters. Our 
creeping pace gave us ample time to see, but no time to 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COB AN. 7.3 

stop for, the many curious things on either bank. Close 
on the shore were red abutilons, and over them crept 
the long-tubed white convolvulus {Ipoincea hona-nox) and 
the brilliant yellow allamanda ; high up on the wild fig- 
trees were black, long-tailed monkeys, common and tame, 
their wonderfully human faces peering down at the in- 
truders, the mothers clasping their hairy little babies to 
their breasts with one arm, and with the other scratching 
their heads in a puzzled manner. One of our Caribs shot 
a little fellow before I could prevent him, and the creature 
clung, even in death, by his tail. As I had shot an iguana 
through the head with my revolver in the morning, I was 
called upon to cut with my bullet the provoking tail, that 
the Caribs might have a caribal feast. Regard for my 
reputation as a marksman, and the memory of a taste of 
roast monkey in India, forbade the attempt, and the poor 
monkey, like the Tyburn thief, "is hanging there still." 
There was foam on the water, but we heard no water-fall, 
— and indeed the flat nature of the country made falls, 
cascades, or even rapids, impossible. 

We passed another night when the torrents of rain had 
no effect on the myriads of mosquitoes and black-flies. 
Still all the brooks ran inland, although, as we afterwards 
learned, in the dry season these banks are so high above 
the water that they are hard to climb. All day long we 
saw monkeys along the banks, though high above us, and 
the following night we heard the howlers ; but in com- 
pensation for that evil had no mosquitoes. By Saturday 
(Nov. 3, 1883) we hoped to be well on our road from 
Pansos to Coban, but, except the cayuco, we saw no signs 
of men or the work of men's hands ; on that morning, 
however, we came to a little Jinca on the river bank, where 



74 GUATEMALA. 

a good sized stream from the river flowed into the yard 
and through the house. The poultry had taken refuge on 
the roof, and the Indian proprietors waded through the 
flood. Luckily the oven, or fire-place, was raised on sticks 
several feet above the water, so that the senora could make 
us some tortillas, — eight for a real. Eggs were the same 
price. Slight as the forage was, it was very acceptable, 
as our food was nearly gone, and w^e were already depen- 
dent on the Caribs for their cassava-bread. The river, 
these persons said, was falling, so we pushed on with new 
courage. 

A fine spider-lily ( Crinum) grew on the bank where 
we moored our canoa. We noticed that whenever we 
made fast to the cane-brake, the black-flies bothered us 
far more than when we had trees overhead ; was it not 
because the cane did not afford roosts or concealment for 
the fly-catching birds and reptiles ? The blossoms of the 
cane were very beautiful, indeed as attractive as those we 
had noticed on the Chocon. Mahogany-trees were seen 
here and there, and we were told that there was much of 
this fine wood on the Rio Zarco, just at hand. I also saw 
a goyava-tree, some eighteen inches in diameter and eighty 
feet high. In the afternoon we passed willows [Sauce), 
and about five o'clock were startled by an unusual noise 
behind us, when a huge three-storied structure came sweep- 
ing up the stream, as if in pursuit ; it was the steamer 
" City of Belize," a flat-bottomed stern- wheeler. As the 
current was very strong and the channel narrow, we has- 
tened to make fast to a large fig-tree overhanging the 
stream. Before, however, our arrangements were made, the 
steamer was upon us, and her surge, added to the current, 
tore us from our mooring and swept as under the tree. 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 75 

Our masts caught in a branch, and we were turned on 
our beam-ends. For an instant our situation was critical. 
Our weather-rail was six inches under water, and we 
were clinging to the other side as the water came pour- 
ing in ; then the mainmast slipped, and we righted, all 
hands bailing out eagerly, while Frank held by some 
branches and prevented a repetition of the disaster. If 
the canoa had upset, our journey would probably have 
ended there, as our photographic supplies would have 
been ruined, and there would have been little chance for 
us in that deep, rapid river, with no banks, and no trees 
that offered food, even if they gave us shelter from the 
alligators ; and these too would have shown themselves 
as soon as the disturbance caused by the steamer had 
abated. Our Carib captain was as frightened as we were, 
and with the little English he knew, exclaimed as we 
anchored for the night : '^ D — d good boat ; would n't sell 
her for h — 11!" The persons on the "City of Belize" 
must have seen us filling, but they did not stop to see if 
we drowned. 

All night we had mosquitoes, but no rain ; and to our 
wakeful excitement was added the horrible noises of 
tigres, wild hogs, monkeys, alligators, and other animals. 
We were getting tired of the river, and our voyage 
seemed interminable. Early in the morning we passed 
the mouth of the Rio Cahabon, where the steamer had 
anchored the night before, and soon after I shot my first 
alligator. He was a large one, and my ball struck him 
just behind the foreleg. He jumped clear of the water, 
turned over, and fell back, tingeing the river with blood. 

We thought we had counted twice the seventy-two 
vueltas in the fifty miles between the mouth of the river 



76 GUATEMALA. 

and Pansos ; but this port still fled before us, and it was 
nearly dark before I smelt human habitations. Not 
one of our company had ever been there before ; but the 
Caribs were greatly amused at my assertion, and I think 
Frank smiled in his sleeve at my scent. But I certainly 
smelt them, and kept the men rowing, and blew the 
conch-shell, as the law requires on approaching a port ; 
and at last, long after dark, the lights of the steamer fast 
at the wharf appeared, and we were soon alongside. 

We had been a week in our canoa, and five days 
without landing ; but our troubles were not yet ended. 
The stupid soldiers flatly refused to allow us to land 
our traps without a permit from the comandante, and 
insisted that we should go with them to the Comandancia, 
nearly a quarter of a mile away. I started with Santiago, 
over a road worked into pasty mud by the ox-carts from 
Coban. It was raining and very dark, and the almost 
naked soldiers tried to light the way with splinters of fat- 
pine, called hei:e ocote. At last the road ended in a black 
pool, into which the barelegged soldiers waded. But I 
declined to go farther unless they carried me ; and it 
almost made the night bright to see the look these apol- 
ogies for men gave each other and the stranger who 
weighed twenty pounds more than their united weights. 
It ended as it should have begun ; and Santiago went 
on with one guard to explain matters, while with the 
other I returned to the steamer. The officers of the 
steamer had kindly invited us to sleep on board ; but 
the soldier on guard refused to let us pass the plank, 
so I pitched him into the river, — the proper place for 
all such stupid military men, — and went on board un- 
opposed. Soon word came that we might sleep where 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COB AN. 77 

we pleased. Mosquitoes were as bad here as anywhere 
on the Polochic; and while Frank slept on the dining- 
table without a net, I had a very dirty bed and a net 
full of mosquitoes and other things ; so in the morning 
we could not decide which had had the least comfort. 

With light usually comes a more cheerful feeling ; and 
a good breakfast, to which the officers of the steamer in- 
vited us, made us feel at peace with all men, and I even 
took the trouble to ask if the soldier I had pitched into 
the river was drowned. The rain having ceased, we 
started for the town, ferrying ourselves over the creek in 
an old canoa half full of water. 

As the comandante had not recovered from his over- 
night debauch, we went about the little village to do 
some necessary shopping and arrange for our journey 
to Coban. The town was small, but neat and attractive. 
A clear brook ran over a limestone bed, and in one place 
it fell over a ledge into a pool where washing is done 
both of persons and garments. An old Spaniard was 
bathing here, and, although half a dozen women were 
washing clothes or soaking maiz in the same limited 
bath-tub, he invited us to join him. Near by, a man was 
dressing an oxhide by pegging it to the ground and then 
salting the inside. 

At the Comandancia we found, not the chief, who was 
still too drunk, but two very polite officials, with whom 
I had a pleasant chat ; I then wrote my name, resi- 
dence, and all the titles I could ever lay claim to, as well 
as those of Senor Don Francisco, my " Secretario." The 
impression was so marked that our lawless neglect of 
Izabal was overlooked, and we were given a full permit to 
land our luggage. Once more we returned to the river, in 



78 GUATEMALA. 

order to dismiss our Carib boatmen, and on the way we met 
an intelligent ladino who spoke English (indeed he had 
been to London) ; and he, acting as our interpreter, greatly 
assisted us in shopping and in our preparations for the 
long journey before us. In his garden were some goyava- 
trees [Psidium) ; but the fruit was unripe, and we found 
that our new friends eat the goyava as the Chinese eat 
pears and other fruits, — quite hard ; salting it, however. 
Santiago found horses for Frank and myself, and at the 
Comandancia we procured Indian mozos to carry our 
luggage. This was our first experience of a system that 
we found very convenient throughout the country. By an 
order from the Comandancia, Indios are obliged to carry 
burdens, as in the present case, precisely as their Northern 
brothers have to serve on a jury, and do it for three 
reals (37-| cents) a day, — quite equal here to the fee the 
law allows an intelligent juryman in the North. They 
cannot be sent beyond their district, nor made to carry 
more than four arrobas (100 lbs.). In many cases they 
carry six arrobas without complaint, supporting their 
burden by a raw-hide strap (called mecajoal) over the 
forehead. The person hiring pays to the authorities, with 
whom the men are registered, a real a head. I provided 
four of these men to carry our luggage to La Tinta ; but 
Santiago cut down the number by half at the end of the 
first stage. Our experience with these mozos de cargo 
was pleasant, as the}' usuall}^ kept up with our horses 
on the mountain-roads, and took good care of the par- 
cels intrusted to them. Each one carries a palm-leaf 
umbrella (suyacal), which also serves for bed at night. 
I have employed dozens of these bearers, and found only 
one of whom I could complain ; and he was not with me 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 79 

on the road, but sent with our mozo Santiago, — which 
might be an excuse for him. 

There is no posada in Pansos ; and after getting our 
brealdast at noon in a little shop which was papered with 
pictures from " Harper's Weekly " and " Puck," we decided 
to spend the night at Teleman. After some difficulty in 
getting permission for our guide to leave town, — the 
comandante being still drunk,^ — at two o'clock, mounted 
tolerably, Frank and I, with our boy Roberto, left Pansos. 
The pleasure of being again on horseback after the dull 
inaction of our canoa voyage was so great that I was 
willing to overlook any deficiencies in my mount. As 
Roberto stopped a short distance from the town to make 
a slight addition to his wardrobe, we went on alone for 
a while ; the road could hardly be missed, it is so worn 
by the bullock-carts used to bring coffee from the 
plantations of Alta Verapaz. The beautiful vegetation, 
healthy and luxuriant, drew our attention from the 
muddy road, which became worse as we got farther into 
the forest. Many fine clear brooks crossed our path, 
and as we came out of the woods the valley of the Boca- 
nueva lay before us. Two piers of masonry stand on 
opposite banks of this river ; but the iron bridge lies on 
the shore at Livingston, and there seems to be no very 
strong attraction between the iron and the masonry. 
The absence of a bridge was no great hardship, for not 
only was the river shallow and easily fordable, but there 
was a most curious vine-bridge, built of vejucos, perhaps 
a hundred and fifty feet long, hung from two convenient 
trees and approached by ladders. It was old, and one 

^ I may add that Roon after our arrival in Coban the Jefe politico deposed 
this unworthy comandante, punishing him with various indignities. 



80 GUATEMALA. 

side was broken down; so it required care and courage 
to cross it. It was very similar in construction to mod- 
ern wire suspension-bridges, but wholly vegetable, there 
being not a particle of metal about it. 

A few miles farther brought us out of the wooded to 
the cleared land, where is the hamlet of Teleman, famed 
for its delicious oranges. Although nearly sundown, and 
cloudy, the thermometer stood at seventy-eight degrees. 
We found lodging at the house of Don Pablo, a fine-looking 
old man with a heavy gray beard. His little home was in 
the midst of orange and coffee trees close on the road, and 
only a light rail kept the too familiar cattle out of the 
house. We had no long time to look around before dark ; 
but our comida was good, and the coffee grown there was 
very fine. The hospitable Don Pablo pointed to a pile of 
oranges on the floor and told us to help ourselves, which 
we did freely. Another Spaniard came in soon after we 
were settled, and I had the best chance I had ever had to 
exercise my "book Spanish." I surprised Frank, and 
myself as well, obtaining from these two agreeable men a 
great deal of information about our road and the country 
generally. The room was certainly as strange a one 
as I had ever slept in, — a table in one corner, with a 
mahogany bench fifteen inches wide before it (on this 
bench a small child slept all night, without pillow or 
covering) ; two hammocks ; a bedstead with mosquito- 
netting; piles of coffee, oranges, and other small matters; 
a shrine of tinsel containing two images, before whose 
dingy holiness a sardine-box lamp burned luridly ; meat 
in strips hung from the roof. The chickens had all gone 
under the bed for the night ; and when it was time for 
the featherless bipeds to roost also, our host and his women 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 81 

retired into the dark inner room, after assigning me the 
bed and Frank one of the hammocks, while the stranger 
took the other and soon settled himself comfortably. 
The bed certainly was not luxurious, and the pillow had 
seen better days; but I rigged up a cleaner head-rest with 
a towel, and was comfortable enough. Not so Frank, who 
was unused to hammocks ; and before I was quite asleep 
I heard his whisper, asking if there was room to take 
him in ; and as the bed was large, his hammock was 
deserted. 

We were up at four ; and as it was still quite dark, the 
sardine-box lamp was again lighted, and we drank the 
delicious coffee grown in Don Pablo's garden, while a 
little muchaeha drove out her chickens from under the 
bed. The clouds promised rain ; but we had none 
all day, in spite of the predictions of both host and 
guide. 

We crossed two aguas calientes. One of them was steam- 
ing in the cool morning air ; but their temperature was 
very little above that of the atmosphere at midday. Cacao- 
trees v/ere very common, though we saw none cultivated. 
Here we first saw in abundance some of the convolvulus 
blossoms for which the country is noted. One was of a 
pale rose, another a deep blue, with hispid calyx and a 
corolla five inches across, while a third was of flesh-color 
and satiny texture, covering the trees near La Tinta. 
We arrived in that village about noon, and after some 
delay found a house where they would cook us an 
almuerzo. Our metiu comprised good white rolls, broiled 
meat, fried plantains, frijoles, fried eggs, and good coffee, 
— all which we relished exceedingly ; and we were not 
less satisfied with the price, — two reals each. The house 

6 



82 GUATEMALA. 

contained only one room, a stone cooking-bench ^ at one 
end, and a row of box-like beds along one side. Under 
these several hens were sitting, and two or three dogs 
tried hard to get into a bed, while a colt kept putting 
his head into a window, and finally upset the corn-box. 
There was not much to the town, certainly. The school 
had thirteen pupils, — some bright enough ; but the 
church was an insignificant shed. Pasturage was good, 
and we noticed a very large proportion of bulls by the 
roadside ; these were quite as gentle as the cows. 

In the afternoon we crossed, on an iron truss-bridge 
covered with a thatched roof, the Polochic, now a shal- 
low but still wide stream. I wished for my camera here, 
— as I had several times since I left Pansos ; but we 
were effectually parted until our mozos should overtake 
us at Coban. We had been assured by the blind ladinos 
that there was no interesting scenery on the road. We 
were now constantly ascending, and we passed many 
Indios of the Poconchi tribe, — clean, good-looking, and 
dressed in white, with fanciful designs of darker colors 
sewed on. 

1 Owing to the heavy duty, iron stoves are seldom seen in Guatemala; 
but a structure of stone, where that material is at hand, elsewhere of sticks 
covered with clay, is reared to the height of about two feet. Its size depends, 
of course, on the wants of the household ; but large or small, the form is 
always the same. Three suitable stones, forming what would correspond to a 
pot-hole in an ordinary stove, are embedded in the clay-top of this house-altar, 
and the long slim sticks that furnish fuel serve also as poker, shovel, and 
tongs. There is no chimney, but the smoke and steam escape by the many 
cracks in the walls or by the windows. On one stone tripod a comal for tor- 
tillas, on another an earthen pitcher of coffee, and on another a stew-pan 
(cazuela) of frijoles, is the usual kitchen arrangement. Answering its purpose 
as w^ell as a costly stove, it may be built for a few reals ; and if an oven is 
needed for bread, a stone and earthen dome built over such a table-like hearth 
makes a capital one, not unlike those so common among the Canadians and in 
other half-civilized countries. 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 83 

We arrived at Chamiquin early in the afternoon, and 
found the hamlet consisted, as far as we could see, of 
two very inferior houses and as many sheds. A fine 
grove of mango-trees, but no fruit ; a hen-house built in 
the second story only, and accessible by ladder ; palms, 
with the withered leaves still clinging to the stem 
(cultivated for the nuts, but dreary looking) ; limestone 
cropping out on the neighboring hills, — comprised the 
distinctive features of the place. Our room was new and 
clean, lined with banana-leaves, and the hard earth floor 
was of course uncarpeted. The furniture was simply a 
table and a bench ; but frugal as the furnishing was, our 
dinner surpassed it, — a few tortillas, four eggs, and some 
nasty coffee for two hungry men ! We had our own 
candles, or we might not have seen how little it was. 
Perhaps our hostess did as well as she could, for the 
twenty-five dogs that besieged our room while we ate 
were evidently half starved. 

All through the country the dogs are very ill condi- 
tioned, and I several times remonstrated with their 
owners for what seemed to me cruel treatment ; for 
although I detest this unclean brute, I do not like to 
see him suffer. But I was always assured that the 
dogs were underfed, not on account of cruelty, but to 
make them good hunters and scavengers. It certainly 
made them useless for the only purpose besides hunting 
that dogs seem to have been created for, — human 
food. Guatemala canines are certainly a contrast to 
the juicy little poi dogs of the Hawaiians (which 
are fed only on poi, sweet potato, and milk), or the 
excellent dogs always hanging in the butcher-shops in 
China. 



84 GUATEMALA. 

Here let me speak of the atrocious coffee that we 
found in this place and elsewhere as we went on. The 
berry, which is of fine quality, is burned, not roasted, 
and when pulverized, boiled for hours, and then bottled. 
This nasty mess they call esencia de cafe, and mix it 
with boiling water at the table. It was generally served 
to us in patent-medicine bottles, with a corn-cob or a roll 
of paper for a stopper. It had not the slightest taste of 
coffee, but reminded one of the smell of a newly-printed 
newspaper. 

We were on our way next morning at half-past five, 
and found the road much washed by the severe rains of 
the night before. On our right, across the valley, was 
a fine cascade spattering over the limestone rocks, and 
now we came for the first time to home-like pine-trees. 
Begonias of two species grew in the clefts of the road- 
side rocks, and in a house-yard was a fine Eii2:)]iorhia 
Poinsettii. As my horse had hurt his foot at Teleman, 
I walked much of the way, so our progress up the hills 
was not very rapid ; and we were by no means expecting 
it when a turn in the road between two hills brought us 
abruptly into San Miguel Tucurii. 

This mteresting town, of some three hundred inhabit- 
ants, had no j)osada ; but we found a capital casa de 
hospedqje, kept by a senora of African descent married 
to an invisible ladino. The house was of fair size, built 
of adobe, and well plastered. A black Saint Benedict himg 
in effigy on the wall, — the forerunner of a host of black 
saints and holy people whom we saw both in sculpture 
and painting as we advanced through this ancient do- 
main of the Spanish missionaries. Our senora had a 
calentura, — the national excuse for not doing anything 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COB AN. 85 

or going anywhere ; but for all that she got iis a good 
breakfast. Our horses were used up, and our boy could 
get no others. An appeal to the alcalde brought . one 
poor horse ; but all our further efforts were answered by 
manana (to-morrow), — that word so hateful to an active 
man, but universal here. As we had a very comfortable 
house to pass the night in, we made ourselves easy, and 
started to explore the town. On our way in I had seen 
an attractive spring a short distance from the road, and 
I went alone to explore it, taking a calabash I had just 
purchased for a drinking-vessel. A well-worn path led 
across a meadow, and a sudden turn brought me upon a 
party of women in exceedingly slight apparel, bathing 
and washing in a little pool into which the spring emp- 
tied through a spout. These naiads were most of them 
young ; but one old woman, a foul-visaged hag, scowled 
savagely upon me, while the others giggled as I quietly 
handed my calabash to the prettiest, and asked her to 
give me a drink of water, which she caught from the 
high spout with skill and without hesitation, although 
the action exhibited her form in all its beauty. How I 
wanted my camera ! 

Stuck in the muddy road was a train of ox-carts, and 
the oxen from seven or eight were yoked to the head 
cart ; and when that was dragged out of the slough to 
a camping-place, the next and all the rest were treated 
the same way. "We wandered about town between the 
showers, saw lime-kilns, a lead-mine, and several pot- 
teries, and at last came to the church, — a more consid- 
erable building than we had yet seen in Central America. 
The door was tied with a leather shoestring, and there 
was no resident priest. The images seemed, to our 



86 guatp:mala. 

unaccustomed eyes, most horrible ; but they must have 
appeared in holier form to the poor worshippers, for 
marig-olds and amaranths were strewed before them, and 
votive candles burned on the floor. The ancient name 
of this town was Tucuriib (meaning "town of owls"); 
but the Spaniards re-christened it by one of the saints 
called Michael, — which I do not know, but apparently 
not that one whose churches in western Europe are usu- 
ally perched on some almost inaccessible pinnacle, as at 
Le Puy in France, St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, 
etc. Only one man in the town could speak English, 
and he could give us very little information about our 
road. Indeed, all the way we were in that delightful 
condition of travelling without knowing exactly what is 
coming, and constantly meeting the unexpected. The 
rain at last came down in earnest, and drove us within 
doors. A Boston boy who has a fine coffee estate in 
the neighborhood came in as we were at dinner and 
initiated us into the mystery of tortillas tostadas. Cer- 
tainly by toasting, the tough, clammy, cold tortilla is 
made even better than new. 

At four in the morning our boy Roberto lighted the 
candle and waked us up. We had settled our score the 
night before, and so did not disturb the family, but com- 
pleted our toilet on the doorstep, as we saw to the sad- 
dling of our horses, by the light of the solitary candle. 
It was so dark as w^e rode away that we could not see 
the road, and blindly followed our guide's white horse, 
A gate across the road gave us some trouble, as we could 
only feel it. By daylight the scenery must be fine ; but 
as the noise of rushing waters, and a blacker streak by 
the road-side, alone indicated the torrents and harrancas 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 87 

at hand, we were troubled rather than pleased by these 
picturesque properties. We came to an ox-train camped 
in the middle of the road ; and but for the glowing em- 
bers of their camp-fires we should have had great difficulty 
in passing. 

As the gray dawn brightened over the mountains, the 
numerous white cascades attracted enough attention to 
keep us from the drowsiness we were both falling into 
from the darkness, cold, and dampness, and the slow gait 
of our horses. Fire-flies were still sparkling when it was 
light enough to see the road. 

It was quite early when we came to Tamahu ; and as we 
entered the little town (1,517 inhabitants), which is twelve 
leagues from Coban, we saw a shrine with images as hor- 
rible as any of the idols of the ancient Polynesians. Most 
of the houses had tiled roofs, and looked neat and comfort- 
able. At one of the best we stopped for coffee ; and while 
the preparations for our meal were going on, Frank and I 
went up to the church hard by. The door was tied with a 
rope, and we found little of interest within, except images 
closely resembling East Indian idols, and around all a 
flavor of mild decay. Our hostess — for always it was 
the senora who managed the hospitalities and took the 
pay therefor — gave us rolls and fried plantains with our 
good coffee, and the table and bench were of some choice 
wood, darker and harder than mahogany. Fine roses 
blossomed in the yard (it was November), and cotton- 
dyeing and weaving, the principal industries of the town, 
were carried on in nearly every house. Lime-burning and 
tile-making also employ a goodly number of the people. 

As we rode into the country, we passed many clumps 
of a fine arborescent composite some twenty feet high, — 



88 GUATEMALA. 

one of the giants of this great and widely spread family. 
Crimson lobelias (like cardinal-flowers) with red stems, 
crenulate leaves, and a very unpleasant odor, were com- 
mon. The road was badly gullied, and the nightly rains 
had made the Polochic, which still kept at our side, an 
angry looking torrent quite unfordable. The grades of 
the road were good, and showed engineering skill and 
constant care ; but for all this my horse broke down 
before noon, as I had expected, and our boy, after some 
consultation with the drivers of a mule-train we passed, 
captured a stray mule for me and turned the horse 
loose. All the horses here seem so feeble, and many 
of the mules so sore, that I seriously thought of cap- 
turing one of the powerful bulls feeding peaceably by 
the path, and riding him in true African style ; but 
Frank earnestly dissuaded me, so we had to walk half 
the time to save our wretched hacks. 

Through the mud we rode into Tactic, four leagues 
farther on, at half-past one o'clock. The barometer 
recorded 4,650 feet ; but this was not high enough to 
insure dry roads at this season. The town, of some 
thirteen hundred inhabitants, seemed prosperous ; the 
houses were of a better class than any we had yet seen, 
and the gardens were full of fruit-trees and vegetables. 
Tree-abutilons, both pink and crimson, were covered with 
blossoms, and peach-trees bore both blossoms and unripe 
fruit. The roads were quite too muddy for foot-travel, 
except in native undress. The corridors of the houses 
generally had carved posts and lintels, and the central 
tile of the ridge was usually fashioned into a cross, with 
two lambs or doves as supporters. The casa munici2oal 
was a noteworthy building. In gardens we saw fine 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COB AN. 89 

coffee-trees, and were told that here there are three 
blossomings in May, and as many harvestings in Decem- 
ber ; the first and third 
are small, while the sec- 
ond is large. Roses were 




even finer than at Ta- 
mahu ; and a little girl 
srave me a bunch of a 

o Roof Tile. 

kind much like the old- 
fashioned cabbage-rose. Most of the inhabitants are 
Indios of the Poconchi tribe. 

The fagade of the church is ornamented with dumpy 
statues of saints, and the main altar is elaborately carved. 
We noticed a picture of three men in the flames of Sheol, 
— whether Hell or Purgatory we could not tell ; one wore 
a tiara, another a mitre, while the third had on a plain 
four-cornered canonical cap. In front of the church we 
bought twenty ^oco^es [Spondias sp.) for a medio. There 
are several varieties of this plum-like fruit, and the red 
is larger and better than the yellow. When quite ripe, 
the rather tender skin contains a juicy yellow pulp 
around a rough stone. From the fermented juice chicha 
is made, — much used as a mild intoxicant, not unlike 
thin cider. 

As we rode out of town we saw that the suburban gar- 
dens were much overrun by squash and bean vines. 
Maiz stood fifteen feet high ; far up on the hills we saw 
cornfields ('inilpas), having in their midst dwelling-houses 
almost in the clouds, and seemingly built like swallows' 
nests against the steep hillside. The campo santo, or 
cemetery, was surrounded by adobe walls, and seemed 
utterly neglected. We had seen in the church, and now 



90 GUATEMALA. 

found by the roadside, a fine red and yellow orchid, and 
another pure white one, as well as the cardinal-flower. 
All day there had been showers ; and when we arrived at 
Santa Cruz, long after dark, we were wet, in spite of our 
ponchos and the water would run into our boots. 

There was no posada, so our boy declared, and we had 
to try the cdbildo for the first time. The Escuela por 
Ninos, or " school for ninnies," as Frank persisted in 
calling it, was placed at our disposal; but the floor was 
bare, hard concrete, and we had no mats, while there was 
no chance to hang our hammocks. It was not inviting ; 
but one of the attendants kindly brought two mahogany 
settees from the court-room, and this was so hard a couch 
that one might be pardoned for going to bed with boots 
on, — and mine were so wet that I feared I should not get 
them on in the morning if they once came off. We 
needed food quite as much as a bed, and at last found 
rolls and coffee at a little shop near at hand. At four 
o'clock in the morning there was an earthquake, which 
did not wake Frank, though it jarred my bed as though 
some one had run against it in the dark. This shock 
was felt, as we afterwards found, at Coban, San Cristobal, 
and for miles around. Slight earthquakes are said to be 
common enough here, but we saw no evidence of severe 
ones. 

In the morning at half-past five, while Roberto was 
saddling the horses, we visited the church and found many 
curiously carved and gilded altar-pieces. After perform- 
ing our ablutions in a puddle in the road, left by the last 
night's rain, we got our coffee and hastened on our way, 
as it was Friday, and we still had twelve miles to ride to 
Coban. 



ACEOSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 



91 



This city, although at an elevation of 4,500 feet, is 
surrounded by much higher hills ; and from the pass 
over which the road winds, the view of the surrounding 
coffee-region is very fine. The streams were in flood, 
and some of the lower plantations were under water. 

Near the town we 

saw the method of 
raising coffee-plants 
under frames cov- 
ered with dried 
ferns. Crossing a 
good bridge, we 
came up a paved 
street, and soon 
after ten o'clock 
rode into the Hotel 
Aleman, where we 
had a very comfort- 
able room and two 
beds with sheets 
and pillow-cases, — 
the first we had 
seen since we left 
Livingston ; and we 
were not now com- 
pelled to sleep in our clothes. Our breakfast was the 
best we had found since we had been in the country, 
and consisted of soup, sausages, /r^y'o/es ^^e^ras, wheaten 
rolls, fried plantains, tortillas tostadas, tomato salad, fried 
potatoes, and good coffee. The potatoes here are native, 
seldom larger than an English walnut, and very mealy. 
In the patio of the hotel bloomed roses and violets. 




In Hotel Aleman. 



92 



GUATEMALA. 



As this Hotel Aleman was the first house of solid 
masonry we had entered since our arrival in Guatemala, 
we examined it with some curiosity. Externally it was 
very plain, — white with stucco, of one story, and roofed 
with red tile. Windows were few, and the large door of 
two valves was generally closed in a rather inhospitable 
manner to an outsider. Once within the portal, however, 
the scene changed wonderfully. "Before us was a court- 
yard {patio), into which the house opened. Directly in 



PATIO 



APOSENTO 




Plan of the Hotel Aleman. 



front was a plain building, used as kitchen (cocina) and 
stable ; on the left was the garden (huerto) ; on the 
right, the corridor, on which opened the sala, or parlor, 
an apartment or two, and the dining-room (comedo?^). In 
the corner was a large concrete tank to catch rain-water. 
Our own apartment was at the left of the entrance, and 
was quite large, with tiled floor and separate corridor. 
A curtain was suspended between two of the pillars to 
shade the dining-room, and hammocks could be swung in 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COB AN. 93 

every direction when needed. Birds hung in cages, and 
flowers in baskets ; and the neglige air of everything, ex- 
cept the neat little Indian women who did the household 
work, added to the comfortable feeling the place inspired. 
We walked up a paved street an eighth of a mile to 
the casa municipal, and, passing an arched gateway in the 
clock-tower, entered a spacious plaza, with the cabildo on 
our left and the foundations of the new palace on the 




The Cabildo of Coban. 



brow of the hill opposite. Directly before us was the 
church and connected buildings, — once a college of priests, 
since confiscated by the Government, and now used as 
a music-school, blacksmith's shop, and for other purposes. 
The main part of the Plaza was paved ; and here were 
congregated several hundred Indios, mostly of the Quekchi 
tribe, buying, selling, and bartering. We bought twenty- 
five fine granadillas (fruit of the passion-flower) for a 
medio, and as many jocotes for the same price. Deli- 



* 



94 



GUATEMALA. 



cate straw hats, woven in two colors, were three reals 
and a medio ; cotton napkins {servilletas) of native 
weaving, two reals ; palm-leaf umbrellas (suyacales), such 
as every "tnozo cle cargo carries, one real. There was a 
fair supply of raw cotton, cacao, brown sugar, tallow, 
soap, and blankets. 




Interior of the Church at Coban. 



The church was very large and interesting ; but the 
front was disfigured by two distinct main entrances, and 
the bell-tower was too low for the church. Within, 
there was the simplest architecture imaginable, — plain 
timber posts, square, with a slight chamfer, with pillow- 
block capitals and stucco bases ; an uneven tiled floor ; 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COB AN. 95 



and side altars of poor design, sometimes painted to 
imitate marble. On one of these altars a famished cur 
was eating candle-ends ; on another were the three cruci- 
fixes of Calvary, — the repentant thief being a young 
man of personable form and features, while the other 
was a bald-headed, bearded villain ; a very impressive 
object-lesson we afterwards saw in many churches. A 
fair St. Sebastian was the only picture of tolerable 
merit. 

We called on the excellent Jefe politico, Don Luis 
Molina, who received us very politely, although our call 
must have been a great 
bore to him, as he spoke 
no English, and my 
Spanish was very lame. 
The Indian women in 
the streets all dress alike, 
— in a skirt of indigo- 
blue cotton, generally 
figured in the loom ; and 
their long and abundant 
black hair is carefully 
bound in red bandages 
[listones) reaching near- 
ly to the ground. Their 

stature is below medium ; they seem modest and good- 
natured. The blue cloth is woven in rude looms, sev- 
eral of which we inspected, and the thread is dyed 
in vats of masonry in the house-yard. The threads- 
are dressed in the loom and dried by a few coals in a 
potsherd placed beneath the warp. A border is woven 
at each edge, and also in the woof, at intervals, to mark 













L ! 1 










1 1 








































1 










11 










-^ -\ i 










j 


1 









Pattern of Cloth. 



96 GUATEMALA. 

the length of a dress-pattern. A common design is 
given on the previous page, — the lines being light blue 
on dark. The lines of light filling are carried outside the 
selvage, and of course are easily broken ; otherwise the 
cloth is coarse and strong, in widths of a vara, or thirty- 
three inches. The weavers were very obliging, and 
pleased to have us inspect their work. 

The soil here is a rich red loam, and coffee grows bet- 
ter than elsewhere in the country. Coffee-trees, well- 
trimmed and loaded with crimson berries, were in every 
garden, and violets and strawberries were in blossom. 

The domestic architecture was certainly not imposing, 
but it was substantial, and perfectly suited to the climate. 
Houses were generally but one story in height, built of 
masonry and covered with stucco, around a patio to- 
wards which the tiled roof inclined, covering a wide 
veranda as well as the house. The windows on the 
street projected slightly, and were protected by strong 
iron grills. Many of the streets were paved, and drains 
and culverts provided to remove the rain-water. As 
there is no aqueduct, Avater is brought from springs or 
caught from the roofs during the frequent rains. We 
were told it had rained incessantly for the last ten days, 
and the wet clouds still rested on the surrounding hills, 
giving a slightly gloomy aspect to the otherwise fine 
views in all directions. The meat-market was outside 
the Plaza, and a single glance was enough ; but the gen- 
eral market was so attractive that, after a quiet night's 
rest (we were of course far more wearied by sight-seeing 
than by any day's travel), we turned our steps thither in 
the early morning. In our search for mules we came to 
•the blacksmith in the cloisters. He was an American 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COB AN. 97 



(del Norte) ; and it was said that when he 
was drunk he could shoe a mule better than 
others could in their soberest moments. He 
had been drinking when we found him ; 
but he gave us some information, 
took us to his den hard by, where 
his family consisted of a native wife 
and a black monkey, and gave 
Frank the skin of a quetzal {PJia- 
Tomacrus mocino). This skin Avas 
so .beautiful that it put us on the search, 
and we found a senora who had a modr 
erately large collection of these and other 
bird-skins, which are brought in by the 
Indios from the mountains of Alta 
Verapaz. 

The quetzal (pronounced kezal) is 
the national emblem, and is decidedly 
a bird of freedom, as it never survives 
captivity, even when taken in earliest 
life. In ancient days none but the 
royal family could wear the beau 
tiful plumes. At present the In- 
dios bring the skins from the 
mountains in considerable num- 
bers, their value depending on 
the length of the tail-plumes, 
which sometimes exceeds three 
feet. As the female is very 
plain, without the beautiful tail 
of the male, she escapes the 
hunters, and consequently pre- Quetzal. 




98 GUATEMALA. 

serves the species. The wing-coverts and tail-feathers of 
the male are of a superb peacock-green, changing to in- 
digo, the inner breast scarlet, and the wings very dark. 

We went to the campo santo, on a hill westward of 
the town, which is reached by a flight of a hundred and 
sixty concrete steps ; the whole was built at the cost of 
one pious man. Several shrines on the way up made 
convenient resting-places for those who used those steps, 
— like the Golden Stairs at Rome for knee-worship and 
penance. In one of these shrines was a lamp of native 
make, in form of a bird with many necks. The chapel 
on the top was small, and the doorway so low that 
I struck my head violently in coming from the dark 
interior. 

Except the noble pine-trees on the top, there was 
nothing attractive in this last resting-place. Some grave- 
diggers were making merry over a small and shallow 
grave they had just finished, and we gladly turned from 
the calvario to the fine views townward. At night the 
regimental band gave us some agreeable music (perhaps 
national airs, certainly unfamiliar tunes) ; and as the 
music died away in the distant streets we fell asleep, to 
be awakened at day-break by the drums and fifes calling 
the men of military age to the regular Sunday inspection. 
We were present at the roll-call in the Plaza ; and of 
all absurd military sights, this was the chief ! Soldiers 
in every costume and of all sizes stood in line, much as 
they arrived at the rendezvous, and solemnly answered 
to their names. Would that I could present a photo- 
graph of this "Falstaff's Regiment" to my readers! 

After coffee Frank and I went to church. The Indian 
women were all kneeling on the tiled floor, and formed 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 



99 



the bulk of the worshippers. A few men stood or knelt, 
with striped blankets thrown gracefully over their shoul- 
ders. Mahogany benches between the side altars gave 
us an opportunity to sit comfortably and study the in- 
teresting scene 
before us while 
we listened to 
the very fine or- 
chestra (consist- 
ing mostly of 
Germans), which 
occupied benches 
in the midst of 
the nave. Far 
away in the loft, 
over the door, a 
bass drum and 
fife, and still far- 
ther out of doors 
rockets and ex- 
plosions, accom- 
panied or empha- 
sized the music. 
The sacrament 
of the commu- 
nion was being administered to worshippers, — apparently 
in both kinds ; the wine in a sort of sop, while the wafer 
was carried by an attendant. All through the long 
service the women remained devoutly kneeling on the 
tiled floor. 

After church the market was more active than usual, 
and we spent the time before almuerzo in lounging 




Indio of Coban. 



100 GUATEMALA. 

through it. In the afternoon we were made hapjD}' by 
the arrival of Santiago and our mozos, with our luggage 
in perfect order ; and not long after the Jefe Don Luis 
called, and assured us that we should have all the mozos 
we needed to carry our luggage onward. We had de- 
cided to take the unusual road to Quiche, about which 
even the Jefe could give us little information, and we 
found no one else who knew more ; so we decided to send 
our heavier luggage direct by Salama to Guatemala City, 
while we took with us only one mozo to carry those 
things we needed by the way. 

In the evening we turned again to the church to hear 
the vesper service. The spacious edifice was dimly 
lighted by the candles on the altars and pillars, and men 
and women knelt all over the rough floor. A choir of 
female voices was singing as we entered, and soon the 
officiating priest was conducted by candle-bearing acolytes 
to the altar. The responses by the choir and orchestra 
(organ, violin, flute, and violoncello) were very impres- 
sive, the musicians often joining their voices to the music 
of their instruments. The Indian drum, made of hides 
rudely stretched over the hollow trunk of a tree, boomed 
from the remote part of the church, and bombs and 
rockets exploded outside in a most effective manner. A 
black-robed young priest entered a confessional near where 
I was sitting, and a veiled female at once knelt at the 
side, while others in the immediate neighborhood moved 
quietly out of earshot. The whole service was very sol- 
emn ; and the clouds of incense from the swinging cen- 
sers of the Indian boys partly concealed the tinsel and 
tarnished gilding of the uncouth altar, and even cast a 
glamour over the huge doll, which, most gaudily dressed, 



ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 101 

represented the Queen of Heaven. The decaying church, 
so pamfully out of repair by daylight, was covered with 
respectabihty, even with sanctity, by the shadows of 
night. One cannot but feel with sadness that the offices 
of a religion held so sacred here in centuries gone by 
should be so lightly regarded, and that the church build- 
ings reared by so much labor and often unselfish devotion 
should now be cared so little for, even in this State of 
Verapaz, where the Church gained an ascendency over 
the Indios which the iron-clad and iron-hearted Conquis- 
tadores had never done. 

Monday was spent in photographing views in the neigh- 
borhood and hunting for mules. Of these we agreed to 
take three for our use all through the country at a charge 
of $150 ; but when we unsaddled them at our hotel we 
found they all had sore backs, and accordingly sent them 
home. In the evening I went with the postmaster (a 
Kentuckian) to an examination at the Colegio de Li- 
bertad. Three ladino lads did most of the reciting in 
arithmetic, botany, zoology, and history; and a certain 
doctor took the role of chief examiner, — evidently quite 
as much bent on displaying his own knowledge as that 
of his pupils. I had to ask a few questions, which were 
understood and promptly answered. 

In the morning we visited the Government storehouse 
for aguardiente. The inspector wanted us to taste the 
fire-water, which was so strong that it seemed to blister 
the tongue. The sale of this liquor is a Government 
monopoly, yielding a very considerable revenue.^ A 
distiller at this place has a license, for which he pays 
four hundred dollars per month ; and he must furnish a 

1 In 1882, $1,266,042.43, or about one fifth of the total revenue. 



102 



GUATEMALA. 



ininimuni of sixty-five bottles per diem, paying twenty-five 
cents a bottle for all over this amount. All the product 
is brought to the public store, where it is tested at 50" ; 
and the retailers send in their written orders for the 
number of bottles they require. The estancas (or drink- 
shops) pay forty dollars per month. The unfortunates 
who drink take a small tumblerful at a time. 

I bought a mare — yegua colorada — for sixty dollars ; 
and as all bills of sale and receipts must be in Spanish, 
we, with the help of the postmaster, composed the fol- 
lowing simple affair on stamped paper : — 

Saben : Coban, 13 de Novr. de 1883. 

Que yo Miguel Eeyes vicino de Coban, Alta Verapaz, he 
vendido y vendo a Don Guillermo T. Brigham una yegua 
colorada con el hierro del margen en la suma de sesenta 
pesas en efectivo. En constancia firmo yo el veudidor. 





The paper is not only stamped, but also water-marked, 
and is for sale at the principal shops. As the stamps are 
changed every two years, the Government has to redeem 
all stamped paper on hand at the end of each biennial 
period. 





Cuartillo of Guatemala (enlarged three times). 



CHAPTER IV. 

FEOM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 

BY Wednesday we had captured two mules ; and 
these, in addition to our mare, — all being well 
shod, — enabled us to leave Coban accompanied by a 
capital mozo de cargo, who carried my photographic outfit. 
Santiago rode one mule, I the other ; and Frank had the 
mare, who was a little wild at first, but soon became 
very tame and attached to us by kind treatment. After 
trying to get away for three days, we started early in 
the morning, and nearly forgot to look at the barometer, 
which was my constant companion ; but after we were 
in the saddle the little dial was consulted, and the needle 
indicated an elevation of forty-four hundred feet. No 
barometer was needed to mark the elevation of our spirits 
on getting on the road again. As far as Santa Cruz 
we retraced our steps. Our mozo kept up with us, car- 
rying our photographic and cooking utensils easily. And 
now this little town, in the early morning, was far more 
attractive than when, wet and hungry, we came to it be- 
fore. On this visit there was more to eat, and from a 
tree by the wayside we bought twenty-five oranges for 
three cents, and also some good bananas. Our breakfast 
was very satisfactory, although eaten in a dirty house full 
of filthy children. At two we started on a good road 
for San Cristobal, where we arrived in an hour and a 



104 GUATEMALA. 

half. This little town, of some four thousand inhabi- 
tants, is surrounded by hills of great beauty ; but the 
Laguna is an insignificant body of water. As there is 
no posada, we rode into the Plaza, and had a capital 
room assigned us in what was once a monastery, — now 
confiscated to public uses. Our comida was obtained at 
the house of an aged senora to whom the polite coman- 
dante conducted us. We found that Thursday and 
Sunday were the principal market-days, that the town- 
clock chimed the quarters, that there were unworked 
mines of silver and lead close at hand, and that the 
maguey grew abundantly there. We also watched the 
process by which the rotted leaves are macerated and 
washed in the brook which flows through the town, and 
we saw the resultmg pita spun into 
cords for hammock-weaving. 

The priests' kitchen was roofless ; 
but the great cooking-range was in- 
tact, being built of brick, with per- 
haps a dozen pot-holes of graduated 
sizes, — the largest being cut from 
the corners of four tiles, the smaller 
ones from the edges of two. Besides 
this range, which occupied the middle 
of the kitchen, there were two large cooking-benches. 

The road to our next stopping-place was remarkably 
good, and the scenery very fine, — the road winding 
along the side of a mountain and overlooking deep val- 
leys in which the night-clouds still lingered. By the 
wayside we saw a cascade of calcareous water, which 
petrified twigs and leaves in its reach. By eleven o'clock 
we rode into a sugar-plantation belonging to President 




FROM COB AN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 105 

Barrios, now in the charge of an old schoolmate of his, 
Juan Prado. There both sugar and coffee were culti- 
vated, and much fine imported stock kept. It was but 
one of the many fincas belonging to the President, where 
he has endeavored to improve the agricultural stand- 
ard of his country and the native stock as well. The' 
cane was of the ribbon variety, and of fair quality ; but 
the mill was simply a vertical twenty-inch iron roll- 
mill turned by four oxen. There was but one open 
kettle, with no clarifier ; and the inspissated syrup was 
run into wooden moulds and cooled into very dark hemi- 
spherical blocks (panela), — a form of sugar much in 
demand among the Indios. 

Senor Prado received us most hospitably, and set be- 
fore us bananas, anonas, and limas, or sweet lemons ; 
then brought us large glasses of a warm liquid made 
from rice and sugar, — not at all to our taste, although 
a favorite drink of the mozos. The buildings at the 
President's finca were neither pleasant nor convenient ; 
but a large roof, substantially framed, was being walled 
in with hewn pine-planks three inches thick, each plank 
representing an entire tree. In this building men were 
grating off the juicy pulp of the coffee-berry in rude 
machines ; after this pulping the berries are washed, 
and spread in the sun to dry. 

We here learned that we could not cross the Chixoy 
(pronounced cMsoy) River that afternoon, as the wire 
suspension-bridge had been swept away the last year, and 
the man whose duty it was to haul travellers across on 
ropes would not be there so late in. the day ; we were con- 
sequently obliged to yield to the importunities of our host 
and stay over night at Priraavera. To entertain us, in 



106 GUATEMALA. 

the afternoon Seilor Prado took us to a mound which the 
new roadway had just grazed ; and together we dug out 
fragments of fine pottery and bits of human bones much 
decayed, — the lower third of a left femur and a frag- 
ment of a pelvis being the most distinctly human. Some 
earthen vessels had been found here and sent to the 
Museo Nacional in Guatemala City. The bones were 
mingled with charcoal and ochre, and often cemented 
together like lime concretions or fulgurites. 

We each had a tumbler of warm milk as a " stirrup^ 
cup " when we said our adios to our kind host in the morn- 
ing, and soon after six we were on the road again. Here, 
as so often again in the republic, we found that the road- 
bed was undergoing active repair. The primitive method 
of removing large rocks and ledges greatly interested us. 
Fires are kept up on and around these obstructions ; 
when thoroughly heated, these are left to cool, or the 
cooling is hastened by water. In either case the ham- 
merers have easy work. 

The narrower road led among pine-forests, where 
many of the trees had been girdled and were slowly 
decaying, — the comajen being unknown at this elevation. 
Men were cutting timber for the President's house and 
for a new bridge. A mortise is cut m the end of each 
log, to which the drag-ropes are fastened. We passed a 
pleasant village iii the valley below us on our left, and after 
about nine miles of poor road we came to a rapid descent 
of twenty-two hundred feet, so steep that we were obliged 
to lead our mules almost to the bank of the Chixoy, 
where the pier on the side nearest us had been under- 
mined in the last flood. The path ended on a narrow 
rock shelf, where was fastened a rude timber frame, from 



FROM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 



107 



which two small and well-worn ropes stretched nearly 
two hundred feet to the remaining pier on the farther 
bank. A hundred feet below was the Chixoy, foaming 
over its rocky bed. This we might see to the best 
advantage ; for one by one we sat in a sling hung from 




Rope Bridge over the Chixoy. 

a rickety traveller, and, launching from the cliff, slid 
rapidly down the slack ropes, and after sliding back at 
the middle, were hauled up on to the remaining pier. 
From this structure we descended a rough ladder to the 
shore, which was sandy and strewed with bowlders and 
other remains of the action of higher waters. Dizzy as 



108 GUATEMALA. 

our own passage was, it was safe enough compared to 
the crossing of our animals. By the help of Indios, we 
stretched a rope across, and finally swam all our mules 
safely. Santiago and the bridge-keeper swam splendidly 
in the rapid current, and the latter was a fine muscu- 
lar, lean specimen of manhood. Frank and I swam in 
as far as we dared, and landed the soaked and frightened 
animals. The bath was cool, and for the first time we 
had no thought of alligators. While I photographed the 
bridge, Frank went to the hamlet of Jocote to get eggs 
and tortillas, and Santiago boiled our coffee. Beautiful 
butterflies were hovering over the rounded pumice-stones 
strewed along the banks ; and on a rock were fine 
Achimenes, the Dorstenia (which resembles botanically 
a fig turned inside out), and a wild Martynia. 

Starting again in the early afternoon, we found the 
way led up and down through the valley, until we were 
seven hundred feet above the river, which in one place 
quite disappeared beneath the limestone ledges, to reap- 
pear some distance beyond. On either side the steep slopes 
were covered with coarse grass ; and there were many 
small, compact aloes, with broad leaves and dried flower- 
stems here and there. Among the rocks were mague}'- 
plants and a few palms, — these last seemed quite out of 
place in this high, dry country. Under the pine-trees 
the sod was green, and in the small lateral valleys clear 
brooks improved the pasturage ; and here at the head of 
each larger gulch we found the deserted camps of the 
mozos de cargo. 

After many turns we came at six o'clock to the village 
of Chicaman, just as the rain began to fall. This hamlet 
is on the north side of broken hills, and overlooks the 



FROM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 109 

Chixoy valley, — here of great depth, but narrow and 
windmg. We found a picturesque little house, where we 
slung our hammocks in the best room, eating our huevos 
and tortillas on a shrine sacred to the black '^ Lord of 
Esquipulas." This shrine is usual in houses far from 
any church ; and here it was embowered in leaves, flow- 
ers, and fruit, — among the latter citrons of a large size 
and the showy yellow fruit of a solanum. We were 
nearly four thousand feet above the sea, and the night 
was cool, — a comfortable ending to a day altogether too 
short to hold properly all the fine weather, beautiful and 
changing scenery, and delightful journeying crowded into 
its twelve bright hours. 

Before the sun had melted the clouds in the valley 
below us, we were on our horses and slowly climbing a 
steep ascent of eight hundred feet. I had photographed 
the house, and, turning the camera on its pivot, obtained 
a view of the cloudy valley below : these views are be- 
fore the reader now. A league brought us to another 
Santa Cruz, — a village pleasantly situated, and about 
the size of Chicaman, consisting of perhaps ten houses. 
There we saw by the roadside some fine oranges ; but 
when Frank rode up to the house with his " j Buenos 
dias, seiiora ! i Tiene usted naranjas ? " he was met by 
" No hay " (there are none). That phrase we heard 
altogether too frequently on our journey. In this case it 
simply meant that the senora had no oranges in the house ; 
but she added that we might for a medio pick as many as 
we wanted ! We tried the several trees, and filled a pillow- 
case with the fine fruit, — half a bushel for five cents ! 

We had little need of guides, for the camino real had 
few branches between towns ; but soon after leaving Santa 



110 GUATEMALA. 

Cruz we found a branch on our left which puzzled us a lit- 
tle, as our map gave no indication of its existence. But 
we kept on almost a league, riding through a pine-forest 
on a nearly level road, — which proved to be the right 
one, although the choice was guess-work. Grass grew be- 
neath these noble trees, and herds pastured in this park-like 
region. It was most interesting to see the acorns inserted 
by the birds in the pine-bark, precisely as I had often seen 
them in the forests of Nevada and California ; but with all 
my watching I could not catch the birds at work. The 
acorns that I dug out, although frequently dry and appar- 
ently abandoned, were free from worms. The common 
species of pine {Pinus macrojjhylla) had " needles " fifteen 
and a half inches long ; and the Indios were gathering 
them to strew the floors of the churches, — a more fra- 
grant carpet than the rushes of our ancestors. We fre- 
quently came across artificial mounds, which, according to 
Santiago, "were where houses had been." At ten o'clock 
we halted at a little village which we were told was Uspan- 
tan (our wretched mozo Santiago, who pretended to be 
guide, but knew no more than we about the road, led 
lis mto this mistake) ; so we unsaddled and waited for 
almuerzo, with little to amuse us except two tm-key- 
cocks, one white, the other dark, inseparable companions, 
who followed us wherever we went, and at last were 
driven nearly wild by their attempts to converse with us. 
Not until two o'clock did we arrive at the true Uspantun, 
and then very unexpectedly ; for seeing some women at 
a spring washing, in a wild place where no houses were 
visible, we turned a low ridge, and found ourselves in 
the midst of a considerable Indian town. The church, 
which we did not enter, had huge buttresses at the apse, 



FROM COB AN TO QUEZALTENANGO. Ill 

— doubtless a precaution against earthquakes. We saw 
a great deal of pottery, and anona-trees were on all sides ; 
but the full-grown fruit was not ripe. We felt so provoked 
at our waste of time at the first village (whose true name 
we never learned) that we did not care to stop here, but 
rode out of the town through a deep artificial ravine. 
San Miguel Uspantan has some nine hundred inhabitants, 
who weave cotton from the lowlands and wool from their 
numerous flocks ; and it is from the mines near by that 
all the silver was obtained for the vessels of the church, 

— so says tradition. Ruined walls and broken aqueducts 
attest the former importance of the place under the 
Quiche rule. 

The road became a mere trail until we came to Pericon, 

— a village of two hundred inhabitants, whose only indus- 
try is wool-dyeing ; and from this we climbed the pine-clad 
hills to a height of over seven thousand feet, where we 
came suddenly upon a fine view of Cunen, directly west, 
but several leagues away, across a valley twelve hundred 
feet deep. I wanted a photograph ; but the sun was in 
our faces, we could not spare the time, the day was almost 
done, and we had a difficult descent before us. Although 
we did not delay, it was long after dark when we rode 
into Cunen and found the Plaza, where we were assigned 
a good room in a confiscated monastery or church build- 
ing. We had a mahogany bench fifteen feet long and 
sixteen inches wide for our bed, and a good table and 
several chairs abundantly furnished our apartment. We 
had our own candles and coffee ; but no other food was 
to be had except some ears of green corn which we had 
picked by the way for our animals, but which we were 
fain to eat ourselves when Santiago had scorched them by 



112 GUATEMALA. 

the embers of the mozos' fires in the Plaza. Although the 
corridor was full of mozos who were to pass the night 
here, there was no noise whatever. We closed om^ door 
at six ; and as soon as our notes were made, fell asleep. 
The poor Indios had no politics to quarrel over, and we 
had the satisfaction of a day well spent ; so there was 
peace and harmony beneath our roof of tiles. 

Every day the vegetation changed, and we might have 
constructed an itinerary of floral landmarks ; to-day it 
was a fine pink dahlia far surpassing in vigor of growth 
and blossom any of the cultivated varieties. In such a 
climate, however, this plant did not provide for hiberna- 
tion in its tuberous roots, of which it had none. Acres 
of fragrant Stevia perfumed the air, while Bouvardias 
and bright CompositsB brushed against us on either side 
of the narrow pathway. 

Twelve hours of solid rest were not too much ; and 
while in the early dawn our hestias were being saddled, 
I strolled into tlie church, which is much smaller than 
its ruined predecessor at its side. In Central America 
the roofless walls of ancient churches usually, if not 
always, enclose a campo santo, and here the early Cune- 
nans slept their last sleep among the crumbling relics of 
their work. In the modern church were two large mer- 
maids of the genuine Japanese type, carved as supporters 
to the altar. 

In the cold, misty morning we started without cof- 
fee, and at once began to climb a long ascent ; for 
Cunen seems to be built on a platform on the mountain 
side. On our left was the finest waterfall we had yet 
seen, and on the banks were red violets. The sum- 
mit of this pass was nearly seven thousand feet, and 



FEOM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 113 

a sudden turn on a sharp ridge brought us to another 
region and a different climate. The transition was 
astonishing, for only a few rods behind we had left the 
rainy season. Before us was a vast valley bounded by 
forest-clad mountains and grassy buttresses; but near and 
far no sign of human habitation. The path we were on 
was the only token of man's presence, and that looked 
more like the dry bed of a mountain torrent than a 
public road. Broad-leaved agaves were very common, 
some crowned with golden blossoms on immense stems, 
some dead after flowering, still others wantonly hacked 
by the passer-by, — so we thought, in our ignorance, until 
the too-frequent mutilation of the tough stems showed 
a labor that could not be purposeless ; and then we 
remembered that these " century plants " flower but 
once, after years of growth exhausting their entire sub- 
stance in that supreme effort, and leaving a withered 
stem and shrivelled leaves, to be swept down the hillside 
by the next storm. Foiled in its attempt to flower by 
the decapitating machete of the mozo, the plant lives on 
for a longer period, furnishing fibre and drink from its 
leaves. Anona-trees grew at the very summit of the 
pass, although we were assured that frosts sometimes 
occurred. Oaks of two species were abundant, and 
laurels were in blossom. A rancho built by the road- 
side, a sad travesty of the Dak Bungalows of India, 
gave us at least a chance to boil our coffee. 

A long and rough descent brought us to a pine-forest, 
whence at an elevation of six thousand feet we again 
looked down upon the valley of the Chixoy. Among the 
pines and oaks I photographed the view. The little 
white-housed town of Sacapulas on the hillside above the 



114 GUATEMALA. 

right bank of the light-green river which did not half fill 
its bed ; the cultivated fields around ; far in the distance 
the volcanic cone of Tajumulco, — the first we had seen, 
a token that we had left the limestone mountains of 
the Atlantic, and were looking on the fire-fountains of 
the Pacific coast, — all these and so much more in this 
grand view before us. We hardly noted the contour, the 
lines, the masses, — all that we could trust to the ivory 
plate that should carry it away ; but the vivid colors in 
that clear atmosphere, the marvellous tints of forest, sky, 
and river, no photographic art could carry away, and we 
must enjoy it now by ourselves. The town was five 
miles away, and three thousand feet below us ; and the 
descent was very difficult, owing to the sharp bits of 
quartz in the path. In the valley we came upon the 
huge cylindrical cacti (Cereus) used in fencing. Jocote- 
trees were abundant, but the small yellow fruit decidedly 
inferior. Sugar-cane grew to some extent m gardens, 
but fruits and vegetables were scarce. On the trees and 
fences hung a light-blue convolvulus, — the most attractive 
color I ever saw ; and this with a smaller white one 
brought the number of the " morning-glories " we had 
found so far to ten species. 

"Women were bathing in a spring near the road ; the 
men seem never to bathe in public. Over the river was 
a bridge of six piers with simple hewn logs laid be- 
tween them, no plank or rail of any kind, although 
the bridge was high and the current, even in ordinary 
stages of the water, very strong. As our bestias did 
not hesitate, we of course crossed with them. A short 
distance up stream were two brick and stone arches of 
a more ancient bridge extending from the town side. 



FROM COB AN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 115 

Several piers of the bridge we were crossing had fallen ; 
but the masonry was good, and they generally held 
well together, forming bowlder-like masses, on which new 
piers had been built : in one case this process had been 
repeated. No doubt the bridge will soon break down 
again ; and two wire cables are stretched from cliff to 
cliff to provide transit in case of accident. We went up 
a steep paved street to the Plaza, where Senor Placido 
Estada, the comandante, assigned us quarters in the 
cabildo, and exerted himself to find us a boarding-place. 
Whether the climate was favorable, I know not; but we 
were always very hungry when we were where food could 
be got : where it was wanting we did not care for it. 
Here we did full justice to the senora's cinnamon- 
flavored chocolate whipped to a froth. 

The church was small, and, like that of Cunen, built at 
the right of an older and much more extensive edifice 
now shattered by earthquakes and used only as a burial- 
place. We climbed the bell-tower and found one bell 
with the date 1683, another with that of 1773 ; all 
were bound to the supporting crossbeams by raw-hide 
thongs. The chief ornament of the Plaza was an ancient 
Ceiba-tree {Eriodendron) of immense size and tradi- 
tionary antiquity. Below the terrace of the Plaza was 
a court, in which a fountain of odd design furnished 
water for the town. Animals were fed here over the 
gravestones that paved the court, and Frank remarked 
that in an earthquake country people chose stable ground 
for their graves. Our photographing attracted such 
a crowd that we walked away to the ruined bridge. 
Originally this was nine feet wide and about two hun- 
dred and fifty feet long. Its age we could not learn; but 



116 GUATEMALA. 

a large sand-box tree {Hura crepitans) seven and a half 
feet in circumference had grown up in the very midst of 
the paved approach, tearing up the stone floor with its 
slow, irresistible power, and another large tree of the 
fig family was persistently fingering the cracks in the 
ancient wall. The tiles used in the arches were thin like 
those in old Roman structures, and the mortar was gen- 
erally harder than the terra-cotta. Frank sketched the 
bridge, and we followed in thought the river until it 
became the Rio de la Pasion, then as the Usumacinta 
(the ancient Rio de los Lacandones) flowing through the 
richest land and most genial climate., by the ruins of the 
ancient cities of the earliest men, and among the vil- 
lages of the unconquered tribes to the shores of that 
Bay of Campeachy where Votan gave his laws to the 
children of the forest. 

Even in this retired spot we became an attraction to 
the unemployed on this Sunday afternoon ; and we slowly 
sauntered back to the cabildo, measuring on our way the 
tru.nk of a dead ceiba-tree forty feet in circumference 
above the buttresses. A game of ball was going on under 
the tree in the Plaza. Wooden balls five inches in di- 
ameter, not very round, were shoved about with paddles. 
In the evening two young men, at the request of the co- 
mandante, played on the flute and guitar for us a number 
of Spanish airs. 

In all these towns the carcel, or prison, is simply a room 
in the cabildo with grated windows and door, and separate 
rooms are often, but not always, provided for women. We 
saw but few occupants in the prisons of the towns we 
passed through. 

We made exceedingly comfortable beds of the public 



FROM COB AN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 117 

documents in the register's office, and I must confess 
to reading one of these marriage-records, which, as 
usual, was entered with great particularity, filling a folio 
page. Comfortable as this "marriage bed" was, we 
were in the saddle the next morning at five o'clock ; 
and leaving our adios for the kind comandante, followed 
the river bank for some distance in the mist. Not half a 
league from the town we came to a ruined church of con- 
siderable size, evidently shattered by earthquakes. Our 
path led directly through a campo santo, and even over 
the graves, which were usually covered with tiles crossed 
and edged with white paint. 

We crossed the dry bed of a river, — certainly at some 
seasons difficult to ford, — and came upon a good level 
path extending along the river side for a mile ; and then 
by a sudden turn we climbed out of the valley up a steep 
hill of decomposing rock, coming to a grassy plain on the 
top. There we met Indios loaded with pottery, — some 
with huge cdntaras of red clay so large that two made a 
load ; others with twelve fifteen-inch spherical pots, all of 
good workmanship.^ The water by the roadside was all 
whitish, and not inviting. The highest part of the pass was 
6,250 feet ; only a few hundred feet below it we found a 

^ The uses of pottery in Central America are almost imiversal ; it supplies 
not only water-cisterns, flour-barrels, ovens, stoves, wash-tubs, baths, coffee- 
pots, stew-pans, but dishes, lamps, floors, roofs, and aqueducts. Some made 
of white clay is exceedingly light, and the patterns are often very tasteful. 
The tinajas (water-jars) and cdntaras are also light, but very strong, while the 
cazuelas, or flat pans, and the cofi'ee-pots are quite fire proof. I have seen a house- 
wall built of pots not unlike a Yankee bean -pot in shape, the mouths opening 
into the house being " pigeon-holes " for the human inhabitants ; while those 
opening out of doors were the nesting-places of pigeons and hens. The roof- 
tiles are not in great variety, usually semicylindrical or conical, and seldom orna- 
mented ; floor-tiles are large, square, and not very thick. The porous water-jars 
suspended in a current of air keep their contents refreshingly cool. 



118 GUATEMALA. 

beautiful liliaceous plant, and some of the mozos we passed 
carried superb clusters of a purple orchid which we after- 
wards found parasitic on trees. Another valley and an- 
other steep gravelly slope to nearly eight thousand feet, 
and then we had a view over a vast extent of mountainous 
country. No lake or river relieved the thirsty landscape, 
though rain-clouds hung on the horizon and dropped their 
showers in the far west. Corn was in tassel ; and where 
we rested at noon on a high plateau, 7,825 feet, we found 
it in milk. There we saw the maguey used as a hedge- 
plant, — and a very impervious fence it made. From this 
high land there was a gradual descent towards the south. 
Far away to the left we saw the church of San Pedro, sur- 
rounded by its little adobe village, and soon we caught a 
glimpse of the still-distant Santa Cruz del Quiche, high 
enough, but seemingly in a valley, for mountains like the 
hills about Jerusalem guarded it on every side. The 
soil near the road was very thin, and covered what 
seemed to be indurated tufa. Deep pools of water were 
formed in this hard substance. 

As we came at last, after a hard day's ride, into the un- 
interesting town, we found the streets all carefully named, 
as Avenida de Barrios, salida por Mejico (Barrios Street, 
the way to Mexico), — which was as useful as it would 
be to put a sign on the corner of Broadway, " Cortland 
Street, the way to Philadelphia." All the inhabitants 
seemed to be in the Plaza, listening to a band and watch- 
ing some fair acrobats who tumbled on mats and swung 
on a horizontal bar. After waiting some time before the 
locked doors of the Hotel del Centro, the proprietor came 
home and let us in. Tough meat, frijoles, bread, and tol- 
erable chocolate were all we could get ; and the vile dogs 




MVm 111! 



FROM COB AN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 119 

were even more troublesome than usual. Our beds were 
made up in the dining-room, and we had pillows and 
sheets again, — the only good things this posada afforded. 
The morning was overcast ; but Frank and I walked to 
the campo santo, nearly a mile from town. High walls 
of adobe surrounded it, and a locked gate kept us out ; but 
we peered in over the heaps of white lilies (Lilium can- 
didum) and marigolds offered at the entrance, and saw 
masonry tombs of very bizarre forms, some painted white, 
others red and blue, or blue and white, in checks. The 
meadows all around were intersected by wide ditches 
which we had no little trouble in crossing, the bare legs 
of the natives rendering bridges quite unnecessary. When 
one was beyond our jump we threw in the washing-stones 
on the bank until we had enough for stepping-stones. 
Eeturning to town, we paid our respects to the Jefe poli- 
tico, Don Antonio Rivera, who is a young man exceedingly 
polite and obliging, and we found practice made it much 
easier to converse than when we met the Governor of Co- 
ban. Don Antonio showed us fine specimens of the woods 
of his neighborhood which had been prepared for an exhibi- 
tion in Guatemala City; but he could not tell us the 
names, and sent for an old Indio who was better informed. 
This Indio also served to show us what the Jefe evi- 
dently considered a very amusing garment, — his trousers, 
which were in the usual black woollen jerga, cut up in 
front as high as mid thigh, so that they can be rolled up 
behind when the wearer girds up his loins to work. 
Cloths of various kinds were brought in for our inspection, 
and the prices given. These seemed high, for the material 
is only a vara (thirty-three inches) wide, and is sold in vara 
lengths. Not satisfied with showing us all that the market 



120 GUATEMALA. 

afforded, the kind Jefe furnished us with a guide to the 
ancient city of Utatlan, or Gumarcaah, and a mozo to 
carry my photographic kit. 

A walk of three long miles westward brought us to a 
great disappointment. It is human to like what one has 
not got ; Americans have an extreme respect for ruins, and 
we were no exception to the mass of our countrymen. 

Stephens has described the remains of this powerful city 
of the Quiche kings, and has figured the very sacrificial 
altar of Tohil down whose steep sides were hurled the 
quivering bodies of the human victims. Three centuries 
and a half is a long period for people of a new country to 
look back over ; but that time has passed since the Con- 
quistadores destroyed the citadel and moved the inhab- 
itants to the site of the present Santa Cruz del Quiche. 
Forty years ago the towers, faced with cut stone, the altar, 
some houses, and even the outer walls, were in good pres- 
ervation ; but all these have since been torn down, and 
the neatly cut stone removed to repair a miserable mud 
church in the town. These blocks of travertine were 
generally of uniform size, 18x12x4 inches; and mingled 
with them were blocks of pumice cut to one third of this 
size. The Plaza was still paved with a smooth layer of 
cement exactly an inch thick, not unlike the cJiunam of the 
East Indies, and entire, except where the modern vandals 
had cut through it in search of foundation-stones which 
they are too stupid to cut from the quarries much nearer 
the town. Five towers are plainly visible still, though 
now but insecure piles of rubbish, the casing having dis- 
appeared. In several there are small cavities not large 
enough for rooms, but sufficient to serve as ladder wells, 
and under one our guide assured us was the entrance to a 



FROM COB AN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 121 

long tunnel extending to the distant hills ; but when we 
insisted upon his pointing out the place, he utterly failed. 
Not an arrow-head could we find, although plain pottery 
in fragments was abundant. 

The whole fortress was built on a promontory sur- 
rounded, except at one narrow neck, by steep barrancas 
several hundred feet deep ; and to the rivers at the bottom 
there were probably tunnels from the summit, as the 
ancient Indios were very expert in underground work. It 
is from these tunnels, most likely, that much of the pum- 
ice-stone was obtained. Across the barranca towards the 
town are the remains of three fine watch-towers, from 
which a good view of the entire fortress, as well as of the 
surrounding country, may be obtained. Remains of other 
similar towers were seen far up the mountain slopes on 
either side, and from these the warders signalled with fire 
or smoke the approach of hostile visitors. 

At the beginning of the present century the palace of 
the Quich^ kings was in such a state of preservation that 
its plan could be easily traced, even to the garden. But 
unfortunately a small gold image was discovered in the 
ruins ; and this determined the Government to search 
for treasure, which tradition has always located in the 
ruins of Utatlan. In this search the palace was utterly 
destroyed ; and hardly a wall would have been left stand- 
ing had not the Indios, indignant at the wanton destruc- 
tion of their once famous capital, become so turbulent 
that explorations were no longer safe. In 1834 a commis- 
sion from the capital made a full and careful report on 
the condition of the ruins, and on this report Stephens 
largely rests in his interesting account of Quiche. Even 
in 1840, at the time of his visit, he found many traces 



122 



GUATEMALA. 



which are now gone, especially the Sacrificatorio, which 
was a quadrilateral pyramid, with a base of sixty-six 
feet on the side, and a height, in that ruined condition, of 
thirty-three feet. One side of this awful relic of human 
misery was plain, though bearing traces of painted figures 
of animals ; but the other three sides were supplied with 
steps in the middle, as may be seen in the illustration, 
taken from Catherwood's sketch. These steps were only 




Quiche Altar of Tohil (Sacrificatorio). 

eight inches wide on the tread, while the risers were 
seventeen inches, — a proportion that must have made 
the descent very awkward for the priests if they were 
as corpulent as the more modern monks. 

We met on our return a marimba, carried by two men, 
while the three players followed, beating out clear and 
agreeable notes. A frame between seven and eight feet 
long and twenty-nine inches high, supports on cords 
thirty strips of hard wood, beneath each of which is 



PROM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 



123 



a wooden resonator duly proportioned for tones. The 
music was always attractive, and just now it drew a long 




Marimba. 



procession in honor of the gymnasts of the day before, 
who followed the marimba on horseback. 

In the Plaza we bought jicaras, or calabash ^ chocolate- 

^ Calabashes are of great importance and of universal use as household 
utensils. Some varieties are long and slim, and these, split lengthwise, make 



124 



GUATEMALA. 



cups, — three for a medio. Other interesting things for 
sale were small crabs dried on spits, dried shrimps of 
large size, raw cotton white and brown, floss silk, cloths 

both cotton and woollen, fresh 
and preserved squash, bread, 
sugar-candy, and eau sucre 
colored pink, tin-ware, pot- 
tery, ropes and bags of pita, 
leather sandals, sugar-cane, 
coconuts, baskets, and cheap 
foreign wares. In this town 
of six thousand inhabitants 
there are very few manufac- 
tures. We saw a woman 
boldly eating the game she 
caught in a little girl's hair. 
I had before seen asred Ha- 

o 

waiian women engaged in this fascinating pursuit ; but 
they always seemed ashamed to be seen by strangers. 
Not so the Quiche woman ; the wretch even held her 
hand out for us ! 

To the fomitain in the midst of the Plaza men and 
women came for water. The latter all carried their water- 
jars on their heads, while the men always slung them on 
their backs. Convicts were at work on the streets, or 
carrying stone for the church. They were chained in 
pairs, having shackles about the waist and ankles. The 




Jicara. 



ladles; the ver}^ spherical ones make boxes, flat ones form bowls and platters, 
while those of the shape illustrated become chocolate-cups. The black color 
is permanent, although scarcely penetrating the hard surface ; it is made by a 
bean that I have not been able to identify. Calabash-cups, although very 
light, are strong and durable. I have one, given me by Don Eamon Viada of 
Trujillo, which is as delicate as porcelain. 



. FROM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 125 

cabildo was the most important building in the town, as 
the parish church had so decayed that the walls of the 
entire nave had had to be removed. The new construction 
of adobe, with trimmings of stone taken from the ruins, 
will not last many years. The whole town looks dingy, 
and even dirty, OAving to the universal use of adobe. The 
roof-tiles are not so well made, nor so carefully kept in place, 
as in some of the smaller towns ; but, on the other hand, 
some of the streets are paved, there are some side-walks, 
subterranean street-drains, and street-lamps or candles. 

The Quiche Indios of the present day are not so good- 
looking as the Mayas. The women are badly dressed, 
and not neat ; the men wear slashed trousers, loose 
jackets, closed in front and put on like a shirt, and 
in cold weather a narrow blanket, or poncho, with fringed 
ends. Some of these ponchos are figured, and most 
of them have a border, more or less elaborate, woven 
at each end. These Indios are small of stature and light 
limbed, with scanty but common beards, round faces, and 
small hands and feet ; they are by no means as modest as 
those of Alta Verapaz, and evidently unused to seeing 
strange white men. Women carry their babies on the 
back while washing clothes at the fountains or by the 
streams. At home hammocks serve well for cradles. 

Vegetation is not free from pests here, for we saw 
black warts on the oaks, and smut [Ustilago segetum) on 
the corn. The corn-stalks are of the size and appearance 
of our field-corn; but the juice is much sweeter, and 
Frank considered it quite as good as that of the withered 
sugar-cane brought up here from the coast. Everywhere 
marigolds (calendula) scent the air, and bunches of them 
are wilting at every altar in every church. 



126 GUATEMALA. 

The fiesta is in commemoration of the Conquest, — so 
we were told ; and it was rather curious to see the de- 
generate Indios decorating their houses and holding high 
holiday far from the memory of the horriljle tortures 
inflicted on their ancestors in this same conquest. Red 
flags hung from every door and window, — fit emblems of 
the bloody event ! 

The excellent mozo Ramon Ghisli, who had come with 
us from Coban, was now ready to return. We would 
gladly have engaged this capital fellow to go with us 
all the way, but it was impossible ; so I gave him extra 
pay, and with his carcaste -^ full of onions he started back 
on his long journey. Our mules were not very good, so 
we decided to send them back and get others here. 
Ramon had kept well up with the animals, had helped 
bravely in crossing the Chixoy, and had yielded implicit 
obedience to Santiago, who persisted in ordering about a 
man worth three of himself. Ramon got safely home, 
and delivered the mules all right. 

A little alcalde in green spectacles exerted himself to 
find animals for us, as we were anxious to get away, 
since the hotel was full of dirty children and even dirtier 
dogs, and the food far worse than anythmg we had 

* It is well to explain that tlie framework used for carrying small articles 
on the back is called kataure by the Caribs, and carcaste by the Indios of the 
interior. Ramon carried in his not only all my photographic apparatiis, — 
the camera and box of plates being carefully wrapped in water-proof mate- 
rial, — but also our cooking utensils and his own luggage. After he left us Ave 
found so much trouble in hiring suitable carcastes that we purchased one for 
a few reals and fitted it up with pita cords, which served our purpose very conve- 
niently. When a desirable view presented, a whistle brought the mozo to our 
side, and from ten to fifteen minutes only were required to unpack, set up, 
expose one or two plates, repack, and remount our animals. It may be interest- 
ing to state that in all this long journey, where plates were carried in this way, 
not one was broken, nor was a piece of the apparatus damaged. 



FROM COB AN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 127 

hitherto found. We had rain that night and the next 
day; but our new horses were brought in fair season. 
Wlien we came to settle the bill we found the wretched 
landlord had charged seven dollars, given the bill to his 
wife, and hidden himself. Finding expostulation with the 
senora of no effect, I despatched Frank to lay the case 
before the Jefe, while I tried abuse ; this had the desired 
effect of bringing the landlord from his hiding-place. I 
called him a ladron (robber), and, to the intense amuse- 
ment of the many bystanders, described the meat he had 
set before us as Tnula solamente (nothing but mule). The 
boys caught the phrase, and we heard it shouted at 
the poor man until we departed. The Jefe sent the 
comandante and two soldiers to bring the "robber" to 
reason, and mine host thereupon told us to pay what we 
pleased. The comandante suggested three dollars as the 
proper price ; but we gave him four, and soon after nine 
o'clock we scraped the mud of this town from our feet. 

The road led down immense barrancas, where we saw 
deposits of pumice some eight hundred feet thick. Min- 
gled with this layer were large blocks of lava, seemingly 
ejected from some crater eruption; but where was the 
crater ? We passed a little hamlet marked San Sebastian 
de Lemoa on the map ; but all the people had gone a 
fishing on a lake near by, whose borders were swarming 
with ducks. Four leagues from Quiche we came to Santo 
Tomas Chichicastenango. This is a neat, attractive little 
village, hardly as large as its name is long, with clean 
streets, a fountain and eucalyptus-trees in the Plaza, and 
an ancient church. Close at hand are the ruins of an 
older town, which we, to our regret, had no time to visit. 
At the cabildo we were politely received, and our beasts 



128 GUATEMALA. 

of burden, both biped and quadruped, unloaded. The 
Jefe had telegraphed to Santo Tomas for horses and a 
mozo, and we were assured that after almuerzo these 
would l^e ready. In this faith we strolled about the 
town. The church, as usual, attracted our attention ; and 
here for the first time we saw the Indies burning in- 
cense, which seemed to be gum copal, or precisely the 
same material their ancestors used in idol worship. Mari- 
golds were strewed all over the floor, and the odor was 
oppressive, even without the incense and innumerable 
candles. The altar was covered with plates of beaten 
silver of no very good workmanship. An image of a 
man on horseback, with a beggar by his side, excited our 
curiosity, which was not destined to be satisfied, although 
our mozo declared it was Santiago (Saint James). We 
pushed our explorations outside the church, and climbed 
by an external staircase to the organ-loft, which was 
floored with hewn boards not otherwise smoothed. An 
ancient organ, hardly larger than an ordinary davenport, 
stood in the midst, wholly apart from the bellows, which 
were worked by a suspended lever much as an ordinary 
forge-bellows. The keys were deeply worn by long use, 
horny fingers, or both, and they covered two octaves and 
a half ; the stops were simply strips of hard wood pro- 
jecting from the side of the case, and beyond the reach 
of the organist.^ The locks on all the doors were of 

1 There were many similar organs in the old churches, — some, indeed, re- 
moved to the lumber-rooms ; but they were so securely fastened together that 
I could not get at the internal mechanism without too much disturbance, and 
I concluded that the instruments were imported entire. No modern organs of 
any size were seen outside of the metropolitan cathedrals ; and yet even a large 
organ is very easy to transport. One little instrument that I tried was not in 
tune, but the pipe-tones were good. In the old church at Trujillo Frank 
found a modern French cabinet-organ of remarkably sweet tones. 



FROM COBAN TO QUEZALTEN^ANGO. 129 

wood, and most primitive in design. All the worship- 
ping Indios seemed very devout, chanting their prayers 
in their native tongue to the bare wall or a door-post, 
and they paid no attention to us as we passed them, 
although outside they generally bowed respectfully. 

In a little shop at a street corner we found our 
almuerzo (there is no posada) ; and a very good one it 
was. Our hostess was a very respectable woman, whose 
house was well furnished (sewing-machine and rocking- 
chairs among other comforts), being quite a different per- 
son from the one who in our own country would occupy 
her position, — a rumseller. While we were waiting, two 
half-tipsy Indios came in, drank a small tumbler of aguar- 
diente, and soon settled themselves quietly on the side- 
walk for a drunken sleep, undisturbed by the passer-by. 

Our way from Chichicastenango ^ led out over a narrow 
ridge or series of ridges, with deep barrancas on either 
side. The road was good, and hedged part of the way ; 
but our animals were of the poorest kind. My little 
horse went slowly, and at last his legs seemed to collapse, 
and he came to the ground, leaving me standing over 
him. He was not worn out, he was a "trick horse." 
For miles Frank and I walked on, leading our bestias. 
It grew very dark and misty ; lightning flashed in the 
distance, and the trees were dripping with dew. With 

^ In stumbling over this crooked name, it occurs to me that it would be fair 
to my readers, who are perhaps less familiar with Indian names, to state 
briefly how they are pronounced. G is always guttural ; ch is like tche ; h is 
strongly aspirate ; j is pronounced like h; a; is sh ; u is the French ou ; v is 
equivalent to w; and the vowels have the Italian values. Of the Indian 
names the signification is not always known, but there are certain terminations 
common enough and well understood; as tepee, a mountain or high thing, in 
Alotepec, Quezaltepec, Coatepeque, Olintepeque, Jilotepeque. Those who are 
curious in these matters will find another note in the Appendix. 



130 GUATEMALA. 

every desire to get on to Solola, we agreed that in 
the darkness it was unwise to travel, and we looked 
anxiously for a camping-place, although the muddy 
ground, dripping bushes, and threatening sky gave no 
hope of a comfortable night. Twice we were misled by 
the gleam of fireflies, whose glow is so steady that we 
mistook it for light in a distant house. As we could find 
no safe place for a camp, a high bank on one side and a 
seemingly deep ravine on the other bordering the narrow 
cart-road, we walked on in the utter darkness until we 
almost ran into two ox-carts with a squad of white- 
coated soldiers, who told us we had lost our path in the 
dark, and were on the road to Totonicapan, and a long 
league beyond Encuentros. We returned with them to 
the latter place, where we found comfortable lodgings in 
the house prepared for the expected visit of the President. 
We occupied his room, which was temporarily furnished 
with plenty of Vienna bent-wood furniture, and decorated 
with a full-length, life-size painting of President Barrios 
and a small portrait of his wife. Two bedsteads of the 
box variety were quite bare, as His Excellency always 
carries his bedding, and we did not. After some excel- 
lent chocolate, but no other food, we spread our blankets 
and slept. 

How cold that Thursday morning was when we started 
at daybreak ! The thermometer marked 46° at half -past 
six o'clock, and we were at an elevation of eight thousand 
feet. We had a fine carriage-road for our travel to-day, 
on which I used Frank's mare, while he tried his luck 
with my "trick horse." For a while all went well, and 
Frank made the little beast go ahead, while I stopped to 
pick up some lava fragments in one of the cuttings ; and 



FROM COB AN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 131 

SO when Frank's turn came I could see perfectly how 
odd it looked to have a horse collapse under his rider. 
Along the road were elder-trees (Sambucus) pollarded like 
our willows ; as, however, they were not shady, but in 
the way of fine views, we voted them a nuisance. It was 
down hill all the way, and as we approached Solola the 
view of the Lago de Atitlan and the volcano was dis- 
appointing. We had surfeited, perhaps, on the glories of 
landscape, and had expected something finer, with an im- 
mense lake, several volcanoes of more than average size, 
and a town whose white houses and red-tiled roofs were 
almost concealed in trees and flowers. However critical 
we might be, we were glad enough to see the town, and 
not less to find a posada, where we had a room to serve 
as store-room and bedchamber. We at once sent back our 
miserable horses ; and after reporting to the comandante, 
as in duty bound,-^ we strolled through the Plaza, send- 
ing Santiago in search of bestias for our next stage. 
Here we first found the ripe fruit of the sapote (Lucuma 
mammosa), and did not like it. The outside was brown, 
rough, and leathery; the meat reddish, surrounding a 
smooth nut, and the whole flavored with cinnamon. Some 
sapotes were as large as a coconut, but generally they 
were not half that size.^ The Plaza was full of people 

^ It is the duty of every person to whose house strangers come to pass the 
night to report to headquarters the name, where from and whither bound, so 
that we could be tracked all over the republic from the central telegraph office 
in Guatemala City, — often very useful. 

2 There is no little confusion in the nomenclature of the sapotes, or sapodillas. 
What is usually called sapote in Guatemala does not belong to the genus Sapotcif 
but to an allied genus Lucuma, and is known in the West Indies as the mammee- 
apple. The true sapote has several seeds; the mammee only one. An allied 
genus contains the star-apple (Chrysophyllum cainito). The sapoton, or big 
sapote, does not even belong to the Sapota family, but is a Padiira. 



132 



GUATEMALA. 



buying and selling. Mule-trains came in and went out, 
and it seems that this is the great wheat-market. This 
grain (trigo) is small and round, and the Government offi- 
cials weighed each bag, which should contain six arrobas, 
or one hundred and fifty pounds. Fat-pine (ocote) is 
also an important article of commerce here, as it is the 
principal source of candle-light among the Indios. 







The church is large, but of no architectural preten- 
sions ; and among its contents we noticed several strange 
things. A figure of Christ, with glass eyes and long 
human hair, wore a crown cocked over his left eye like 
a drunken man. On the wall of the nave was a water- 
color drawing passably done, representing a young man 
falling headlong over a precipice, while through a sort of 
Lutheran window, or peep-hole, in the sky a rather young 
female is trying to catch him with a long vine. The 



FROM COB AN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 133 

legend states at length that the youth, m passing along 
the edge of the terrible precipice above the Lago one dark 
night (when he had been to his club), mistook the gleam 
of the water for the path, and forced his horse over. As 
he fell, he breathed a prayer to the "Mother of God," and 
she opened her window and jerked him up again with a 
grape-vine. In testimony whereof he offers this tablet, 
etc. Near the main entrance was a large altar-piece, 
with a deeply sunken cruciform panel containing a very 
realistic crucifix, — glass eyes, sweat, long hair, and blood- 
drops, indeed, everything that could make it disgusting 
to a civilized being; while from the five wounds pro- 
ceeded skeins of crimson thread, — that from the side 
being much thicker, — and all these knotted together in 
a mass, black with the kisses of the worshippers of the 
blood of Christ. On one side of this panel were painted, 
life-size, Roman soldiers mocking the suffering Saviour ; 
while on the other was a Guatemaltecan general, in full 
uniform, weepmg at the sad sight, and using such an 
embroidered handkerchief as the nuns make at the pres- 
ent day. Just behind him was an attendant who had 
caught off his wig on the point of his lance. This last 
feature Frank interprets differently, and thinks the bald 
head is a shining casque, while what I call a wig is a 
flowing plume. With all due deference to his younger 
and brighter eyes, I submit that such a helmet was never 
a part of the Guatemaltecan uniform ; and even if made 
of such close-fitting shape, would not have been painted 
flesh-color. Unluckily I did not take a photograph, to 
settle, if possible, this important dispute. 

Frank was busily asking every one he met about 
mules ; and we had not found any when, late in the 



134 GUATEMALA. 

afternoon, he met a gentleman walking alone in the 
public garden near the Plaza. He asked the oft-repeated 
question in Spanish, when, to his surprise, the person 
asked him if he spoke English. This proved to be the 
Jefe, Don J. M. Galero ; and when told who we were 
and what we wanted, asked us to come to the Jefaturia 
in the evening. As Seilor Galero was high in favor with 
the Government and beloved by his people, our very 
agreeable visit was interrupted by a serenade to his Ex- 
cellency ; and after he had promised to send us his own 
mules that very night for our journey to Totonicapan, 
we took our leave. 

The public garden especially interested me, since all 
the flowers (except an orange-tree) were such as I might 
find at home ; ^ but times and seasons were sadly mixed. 
Pinks and gladioli, sunflower and white lily, all blos- 
somed together. The fountain was painted blue and 
white, — the national colors, — and sadly disfigured the 
garden, which otherwise was not laid out with any 
taste. 

Our apartment in this only hotel in Solola was com- 
jDletely fire-proof ; walls, roof, and floor were brick or tile, 
and several of the floor-tiles were deeply impressed with 
dog-tracks (made, of course, before the kiln), — much re- 
sembling the fossil footprints in the red sandstone of the 

^ Sweet peas and geraniums in abundance, carnations, marigolds, campa- 
nula, yarrow, pinks, sweet-williams, chrysanthemiuns, iris, scabious, abutilon, 
poppy, princess'-feathers, fuchsia, linaria, Lilium candiclum, peach, evening- 
primrose, gillifiowers, amaryllis, gladioli, alyssum, larkspur, brugmansia, 
mignonette, sunflower, adenanthera, willow, balsams, dahlia, spider-lily, 
canna, hollyhock, eucalj^ptus, ragged-lady, roses (4), yellow sweet-clover, as- 
paragus, Hydrangea hortensis, blue African lily, lupine, Boston-pink, wool- 
piuk, cypress, sedum, agave, chelidonium, euphorbia (long-leaved), and 
broom. 



FEOM COB AN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 135 

Connecticut valley. A low table, one chair, a hard-wood 
table called a bedstead, furnished this room ; and there 
was one door and a single window, — the latter, with its 
iron grating, suggestmg a prison-cell. It was clean and 
quiet, and good enough. It does not require long travel 
in the tropics to teach one that the less unnecessary fur- 
niture- in a house, the fewer lurking-places for cockroaches, 
centipedes, scorpions, snakes, and other disagreeable ten- 
ants ; and comparative emptiness decidedly reduces the 
temperature of a room. During the night my hammock 
broke down ; and the sympathy Frank expressed as he 
was half-awakened by the noise, would have been very 
soothing had he not fallen asleep again in the midst of 
it, leaving me sitting on the floor. He continued his 
sympathy in the morning, when the dreadful jar was 
almost forgotten. 

Early next morning we were on our way, mounted bet- 
ter than we had been ; for we left Frank's mare with 
Santiago to rest for a week, and with the Jefe's mules 
we rode briskly on to Argueta, — a small hamlet with a 
deserted convent or monastery, in front of which flowed 
a clear cool brook, and near by was an ingenio moved by 
water-power. We got our almuerzo here, early as it 
was, for we were warned that we should find nothing to 
eat until night. From Argueta the road was very hilly, 
and we climbed until my barometer said 10,450 feet. 
Wheat abounded everywhere, and there were fenced 
threshing-floors of beaten earth. The mozos we met car- 
ried packs of woollen blankets and redes (nets) of pottery ; 
several had pine-boards hewn smooth, three feet wide by 
eight long. In the trees were flocks of bright-green par- 
rots. So many little streams had to be crossed that we 



136 GUATEMALA. 

often wondered if they were not, many of them, parts of 
one rivulet winding in devious way among the foot-hills. 
Except in the ravines, where we had to zigzag down and 
up while the toiling mozos patiently climbed the banks 
too steep for horses, the road was generally over a good 
country for road-building. In one place, however, we 
had to climb a stairway paved with stone set on edge 
and walled with masonry. In places earthen pots were 
built into the walls to collect water for the wayfarer, 
and tiles were used to cap the masonry. This extended 
more than a mile, and took us up just a thousand feet 
by the barometer. We could not learn its age nor the 
builders ; but it is old, and some of the mozos attributed 
it to the Jesuit Fathers. It is much out of repair, and I 
fancy that most of the travel over it is on foot. The views 
were fine all the way ; but we knew our journey was 
long, and the daylight all too short to permit us to wait 
for our mozos to come up with the camera. Indeed, I 
hardly cared to reduce to black and white the glorious 
colors the light was painting on every side. The greens 
of the forest faded into the blues of the sky as in the 
turquoise, gold and silver glittered from the streams, 
and the very gray of the rocks seemed to be richer and 
more varied than usual. 

On the hill-sides were ancient potato-fields only culti- 
vated by digging the tubers ; and this process has gone 
on for years, — the Indios digging at the bottom of the 
slope as potatoes are wanted, leaving enough for seed, 
and arriving at the top by the time the rains begin. As 
the small stems were quite dead and dried up, we could 
not ascertain the species of this aboriginal potato ; but 
it was certainly not the common potato of cultivation 



FKOM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 137 

[Solanum tuberosum). The Indies declared the potatoes 
had never been planted, but their ancestors had dug them 
from the remotest time, — cii toclo tiempo, senor. 

Around us on the mountain-top were spruce-trees of im- 
mense size, four feet in diameter, and pines two feet larger ; 
and beneath these giants of the forest flocks of black 
sheep were feeding, watched by shepherdesses not many 
shades lighter. As black cloth is much worn by the Indios, 
they cultivate the black sheep rather than pay the dyer. 
Cactus on pine-trees, crimson sage, and a minute violet 
not an inch high, were novelties by the roadside. Not a 
few of the pine-trees had been hacked with machetes until 
a considerable niche was formed in the stem ; and the pitch 
dripping into this receptacle was then fired to light a camp. 
We found no villages on this road, but we were seldom 
out of sight of some herdsman's hovel. Late in the after- 
noon we came to the brow of the cliff that bounds the im- 
mense valley of Totonicapan on the east. The sun was 
low on the horizon before us, but I was absorbed in the 
beauty of this grand view. On our left a waterfall dashed 
over the rocks ; below us were the white walls of the In- 
dian City we had so greatly wished to see ; roads and 
streams traversed the valley ; and the whole surface, as 
well as the slopes far up the hills, was cu.t into numerous 
fields of wheat and maiz of many shades of green and 
brown. Far in the distance smoke rose over Quezalte- 
nango, and the broad highway between was plainly visible 
for many miles. My mozo was close at hand, and in ten 
minutes I had two photographs caught in my box ; after 
which we began the very steep descent. 

We found lodging at the Hotel de la Concordia. Our 
little room contained three board bedsteads and one wash- 



138 GUATEMALA. 

stand. Usually we had no wash-stand, but either per- 
formed our ablutions at the courtyard fountain, or else 
had our valet Santiago pour water over us from a 
calabash. 

As we had a letter to the Jefe, David Carney, I went 
at once to present it, in order to get our animals for the 
next stage as soon as possible. We found his house, — a 
fine one, the best in the town, with beautiful roses in the 
neat courtyard ; but the Jefe himself was a dumpy little 
Lidio, stupid and fat, who could say little else than " Si, 
SeSor." After some delay he promised us two mules 
in the morning. In his parlor I noticed a fine piano, 
evidently in use ; and there was a decided air of comfort 
about the house, — probably due to the lady rather than 
the lord. 

That night was very cold, and in the morning at seven 
o'clock the thermometer told forty-five degrees, and the ba- 
rometer stood at 8,860 feet. As usual, we went to church ; 
this was the largest and cleanest we had yet seen, but 
the images, including an Indio-colored Christ, were perhaps 
more hideous than ever. The church has now the old 
Plaza (north of the new one) all to itself, and in addition 
a very large paved courtyard, with square chapels in the 
outer corners. In this courtyard we fomid a troop of In- 
dian women conducting some mummery which required 
veils and candles, both of great size. Some of the poor 
women were so tipsy that they could hardly care for their 
candles, which were perilously near to setting their neigh- 
bors' clothes on fire. After various marches and counter- 
marches, songs and responses, the performance ended in 
a loud explosion. Of all the Indian towns, Totonicapan 
is supposed to be the most Indian, and the people are 



FROM COBAN TO quezalte:n'ango. 139 

thorougli idolaters still, with hardly the dimmest idea of 
the Christian religion. They moreover dislike foreigners, 
as we found to our cost. The fountam and sun-dial in 
the old Plaza were both much out of repair, and in the 
Plaza Nueva the fountain supported a traditional Indian 
fresh from the shield of Massachusetts. Made originally, 
as other men are, without clothes, he had been girt with 
stucco, — doubtless because of the cool weather and his 
damp station. 

Generally the streets were paved, and drained in the mid- 
dle. They intersected at right angles; and as the houses 
had few outside windows and the courtyard gates were 
almost always closed, the town had a very dull, deserted 
look. We did peep into some doors and windows, in a 
way I should hardly tolerate in any other barbarian ; and 
by one of these window-peeps we discovered a weaver 
at work, who invited us to enter. The loom had two 
harnesses worked by the foot of the weaver, and twelve 
more pulled by a boy at the side; the bobbins were wound 
on bits of small bambu. It was a long way back in the 
series of the evolution of a modern carpet-loom, and yet it 
did its work exceedmgly well, if slowly. This art of weav- 
ing has been practised in this city from most ancient 
times, and the Indios declare that the same utensils have 
been used, without essential modification. All the looms 
we saw were on one pattern, and they could hardly have 
been simpler. I bought for four dollars a large woollen 
bed-cover woven in elaborate design, which kept us warm 
while we were in these highlands. 

We called on the Jefe again as he was marrying several 
couples, and he repeated his promise to procure mules for 
us before one o'clock ; so we left him for a while and 



140 GUATEMALA. 

strolled about town and found a potter at work. He 
used both white and dark clay, and his wheel and kiln 
were similar to those in use with us. At two the mules 
had not arrived, and we declared the Jefe a liar. Frank 
must have called on him twenty times, besides the visits 
of ceremony we made together three times a day. After 
a while two alcaldes came to our room and begged us to 
go to the cabildo and inspect the mules they had captured 
for us. Another failure ; for there was not one fit to 
carry our burden. Then they brought two to the hotel, 
— one a pack-mule that refused to be saddled ; then a 
mozo came quite drunk, and wanted a dollar to carry our 
baggage to Quezaltenango. We told him to go to the 
diahlo, and he went ; and so the day wore away. 

On Sunday morning we went to the Plaza, captured a 
mozo without the intervention of the authorities, and 
started on foot for Quezaltenango. The weather was 
clear and cool, like a fine October day in New England ; 
and there was white frost on the lowlands. At first we 
dropped rapidly down, and then came to a fine carriage- 
road, in some places a hundred feet wide. Except the 
steep descent at the city limits, and an equally steep 
ascent about half a league beyond, the road was level, 
and bordered with agaves, some now in bud. 

Just before we came to Salcaja we had a fine view of 
the plain where. Alvarado fought so desperately, was 
wounded, and finally conquered the brave mountaineers. 
Though conquered then, they certainly need another 
Alvarado now. A pale mist covered the distant city, 
but above it towered the volcano Santa Maria, — a cone 
as regular as those of Solola. Northward we saw San 
Cristobal and San Francisco, — two pleasantly situated 



FROM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 141 

towns. We crossed a river which flows into the Pacific 
at San Luis ; so the backbone of the continent was passed, 
and we were on the slopes of the setting sun. We or- 
dered our almuerzo in a little shop, and as we waited 
for it we watched the customers, — among them mozos, 
mostly for aguardiente, women for eggs, spkes, chillis, 
and cord. Beggars came also, and among them an idiot 
girl (the only one of this class we had seen in the repub- 
lic) ; one received a drink, another a handful of red pep- 
pers, and others food. 

Before one o'clock we were in Quezaltenango, having 
walked six leagues in four hours and a half, excluding 
stops. The Hotel de Europe proved very comfortable, 
and the table was good. The Cerro Quemado (Burned 
Mountain), just overhanging the city, was a more attrac- 
tive volcano than the loftier Santa Maria ; and I longed 
for time to climb to the broken crater from whose black- 
ened sides the huge lava-stream had descended towards 
the city (the ancient Exancul), turned suddenly when 
almost upon the outer walls, and then stopped forever. 

The market-place was very attractive ; for besides the 
bustle of the builders, who were piling up the cut and 
sculptured stone of the most imposing public edifice I 
have seen in Guatemala, the many cloth-merchants exhib- 
ited their brilliantly colored merchandise to great advan- 
tage. This is the centre of the trade in native cloths; 
and many beautiful and durable fabrics are woven here 
and in the neighborhood from cotton and wool. The 
stone generally used in building comes from the vol- 
canoes back of the town, and is a light-brown lava. The 
Plaza is double, — one half bounded by the church of San 
Juan de Dios, the stone penitentiary, and shops ; and its 



142 GUATEMALA. 

space is occupied by a garden surrounded by a wall of 
carved stone and provided with stone seats. A pond in 
the midst has a pavilion, or band-stand, on an island. 
The other half of the Plaza is paved, and used as a 
market-place ; here are the new buildings for the 
Government. 

Near by the hotel I saw a sign, of which I made a 
note, thinking to profit thereby ; but Frank saw it more 
clearly than I did, and knocked all the romance out of it. 
To my first glance it read, " Collection of Young Ladies," 

GOLECtIO N^Be senoritas 

but to the critical eye of my fidus Achates it was simply 
a National Seminary of Young Ladies ; so we did not 
venture to explore it. 

The church of San Juan de Dios was large, and the 
facade ornate, — worthy the principal church in a city of 
twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The old organ, of four 
octaves, had been recently painted ; and in the two towers 
hung seven bells, — three bound to the beams with raw- 
hide, as usual, the others on yokes. The cloisters adjoin- 
ing this church -^ were interesting, from the multitude of 
curious paintings they contained, mostly of Scriptural 
histories ; and in them Christ was always represented as 
a shaven monk, with the girdle of the Cordeliers. In the 
old lumber-room of the church were the remains of an 
ancient organ, and heads, bodies, and arms of saints, — 
not relics, but the memhra disjecta of the dolls that are 
put together and dressed up on holy-days. We had often 
seen similar places, which Frank called " property-rooms; " 

^ It was here that the Vice-President, Flores, was torn to pieces by women 
in the last days of the Confederacy, when the Church was in power. 



FROM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 143 

in one we found boxes of wigs and beards, and in another 
a figure of Christ with permanently bent legs, and staples 




Church at Quezaltenango. 



m 



his ankles to strap him on to the mule on Palm 
Sunday ! It was both amusing and pitiful to see the 
trash used for religious purposes. 



144 GUATEMALA. 

We went to the National Institute and saw very good 
dormitories for the young men who study here. In 
preparation for an expected visit of the President, 
lanterns were hung along the colonnades, and blue and 
white (the national colors) met the eye on every side. 
There was something homelike in the narrow, crooked 
streets, — so different from the tasteless rectangles of 
most other Guatemaltecan cities. Then, too, they were 
clean, well paved, and provided with sidewalks, — in 
some places, where they were very steep, with bridges 
over the gutters, which in rainy weather must be tor- 
rents. Street-lamps and letter-boxes, plenty of foun- 
tains (and the water is cold and excellent), gave an air 
of civilized comfort very agreeable to us. The houses 
were well built, and usually had the window and door- 
jambs of sculptured stone. There were plenty of win- 
dows, and the gates were often ajar, revealing flowers 
and fountains in many courtyards. Peach-trees were 
in blossom, and also bore half-ripe fruit. In the suburb 
Cienega is a picturesque washing-place, or lavadero, 
where an artist has many a chance for sketching the 
Indias. 

We saw more tokens of Sunday observance than we had 
yet seen in Guatemala. Towards sunset the military band, 
of twenty-five instruments, played for some time in the 
garden ; but it was more amusing to me to see the people 
with their obsolete European costumes and Sunday man- 
ners than to listen to the music, which Frank said was 
good. Especially effeminate boys wore very high heels, 
to give them a standing in society they could never attain 
otherwise. The garden was not so good as that at Solola, 
but contained, in addition to the list of that place, olean- 



FROM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 



145 



der, daisy, wall-flower, pink-catchfly, bachelor's-buttons, 
flax, and Canterbury-bells. 

A city of nearly twenty-five thousand inhabitants — 
the majority Indios — has grown up gradually on the ruins 
of the ancient Xelahu, until it is only second in impor- 
tance to Guatemala City. Its port is Champerico, from 




Manuel Lisandro Barillas. 



which a railroad extends some distance into the interior 
(to Retalhuleu, 1884), and will one day enter the city. 
Abundant water-supply, schools of various grades, — in- 
cluding a night-school for artisans, — a good hospital, 
female orphan asylum, convenient public buildings and 
a suitable penitentiary, a bank, public lavatories, and 
the hot springs of Almolonga, are but some of the 

10 



146 



GUATEMALA. 



attractions of what was once the capital of the province 
of. Los Altos. 

We had letters to the Jefe politico General Manuel 
Lisandro Barillas ; but he was so occupied in preparation 
for the visit of the President that we thought it best not 
to add to his occupations by calling on him. On the 




Four Alcaldes of Quezaltenango. 

death of President Barrios, General Barillas succeeded to 
the Presidency ; and so satisfactory was his administra- 
tion that at the next election he became President by 
popular vote. 

Monday morning was quite cold and misty ; but we pho- 
tographed the church, with the kind co-operation of the 



FROM COBAN TO QUEZALTENANGO. 



147 



resident curate, Padre Felipe Sora, who lowered curtains, 
opened doors, and did all he could to help us. When we 
took the exterior we attracted a great deal of attention ; 
and fortunately the chief alcalde, who had assured us 
that we could get no mozos that day, as it was a fiesta 
in honor of the President, noticed our performances, and, 
being a personable man, was seized with a strong desire 
to have his ritrato. He offered to get us our mozo if I 
would only photograph him ; so I bade him to the hotel, 
explaining to him that the portraits could not be seen 
until I returned to the North, and that I should charge 
him a dollar for each picture. Honest soul ! he agreed to 
all this ; and on his way he joined to himself three of his 
colleagues. I sent them the result months after, and in 
due time the silver dollars were scrupulously returned. In 
the mean time our alcalde Florencio Cortez provided our 
mozo, and we started to walk back soon after two o'clock. 
We both hoped to see this pleasant city again. 





Cuatro Reales of Honduras. 



CHAPTER V. 

FEOM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 

/~\UR little niozo was only fifteen years old, and his 
^-^ load was so heavy that we had to wait for him 
at every turn in the road ; until, after helping the poor 
little fellow for miles, Frank took the load himself. 
As we reached the high ridge where there is the last 
view of Quezaltenango, we noticed that all the mozos — 
of whom there were many on the road — looked hack 
at the city and removed their hats, as if in salutation. 
We did not reach the hotel at Totonicapan until nearly 
eight o'clock ; but we had no trouble in the clear night, — 
except m trying to get a drink at a way-side fountain, 
into which we nearly tumbled headlong. 

The President arrived in the morning with a cavalcade 
of thirty riders and several large mule-wagons. The 
Plaza was deserted, and the streets almost empty. All 
the Indios kept within doors, and evidently were not anx- 
ious to honor the chief magistrate. The usual nuisance 
of soldiers, however, was there ; and it was very amus- 
ing to watch them fire the guns in the Plaza for a salute. 
To obtain animals was our first desu^e, and we tele- 
graphed to the Jefe of Solola, who had promised to send 
his mules ; but he answered us that he could not, as he was 
called away, with all his attendants. So we seemed to be 
imprisoned in this Indian city, and I resolved to apply at 



FROM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 149 

headquarters. Not expecting to meet the President out of 
Guatemala City, I had no letters with me, nor even any 
suitable attire for a visit of ceremony ; but there was no 
alternative, and through one of his attendants I obtained 
an appointment for the evening. In the mean time we 
wandered impatiently about the town. In the church, over 




J. Rufino Barrios. 



the main altar, we saw, what had before escaped notice, 
three life-sized figures representing God and Christ kneel- 
ing to and crowning the Virgin Mary, over whose head a 
dove hovered. God had a white beard and hald head, 
while Christ's hair was black. Neither this Quaternity, 
nor anything else we noticed in the service of religion 
here, surprised me; though the shudder of disgust was 



150 GUATEMALA. 

stronger than when I stood on the threshold of the 
sanctuary of Kali, near Calcutta, and saw the hideous 
idol with its gory lips and necklace of bleeding human 
heads. 

In the evening the President received me very politely 
in the sola where we had called on the Jefe. I stated 
my case, while Frank looked in at the window. Senor 
Barrios was much better looking than he appears in his 
portraits ; he was not a large man, but muscular, and 
with a very determined and intelligent face. His httle 
daughter, who had been educated in New York, acted 
as his interpreter ; and never, among the scores of in- 
terpreters I have had in many countries, have I found 
so capital a one. Once only my Spanish failed me ; 
and instantly the little girl repeated in idiomatic, con- 
cise English, her father's question. I told him I had 
more important business with him at the capital, but 
that at present I wished only the privilege of hiring or 
purchasing bestias for our journey to Solola. He at once 
summoned the stupid little Jefe and asked him why he 
had not furnished us as we requested. " No hay " (there 
are none), replied the Indio. " Then make some before 
to-morrow, or you shall suffer for it ! " said President 
Barrios ; and told me to let him know if they were not 
furnished us in the morning. Next day the Jefe offered 
us his own mule ; but his wife, a perfect shrew, declared 
it should not leave town. If I had liked that Jefe bet- 
ter, I would have wished that the mule might run away 
with his wife and break her neck. At last he got us 
two good horses, for which he would take no pay, as we 
were amigos del Presidente. A mozo was included in this 
arrangement, and we started him at noon, we following 



FROM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 151 

soon after two. We shook off the dust from our feet, 
and were glad enough to leave Totonicapan, where we 
had found the Indios so impudent and disobliging that 
at one time I feared I should have to shoot some of them 
with my revolver in driving them from my door. 

After the first steep ascent of twelve hundred feet, we 
rode rapidly over the level plateau ; but with all our 
haste we could not get to those steep and difficult stairs 
before dark. Luckily we overtook two ladinos, who rode 
with us ; and we consequently were saved by their guid- 
ance the discomfort of a camp in the cold night. At 
Argueta we were put into a large room in the deserted 
monastery, where we had some ei^cellent coffee. In the 
middle of the room we made a fire of the fat-pine that 
we had gathered in the mountain in preparation for camp- 
ing out, thus taking off the chill which is very decided in 
these high altitudes ; and the clear burning chips of ocote 
did not smoke us out. 

We were up at five next morning [muy temprano) ; 
and although it was still dark, got our coffee and started 
for Solola. In the corridor of the monastery was a large 
pile of an odd-looking corn, the kernels shaped like rice- 
corn, but yellow, and much larger. Six grains, which I 
brought home, were planted in Worcester County, Massa- 
chusetts, and they all grew, — some to a height of seven- 
teen feet, with a diameter near the ground of three 
inches. The season, however, was not long enough for 
them to ripen. 

In the pale dawn we saw the distant volcano of Fuego' 
smoking. We rode on briskly in the cool morning, get- 
ting to our hotel at eight. Certainly this was the best 
and fastest ride we had in Guatemala. We took no time 



152 GUATEMALA. 

to rest, but at once proceeded to photograph the town. 
After almuerzo we climbed down to the Lago de Atitlan 
by a path about twelve hundred feet in perpendicular 
descent. It was a league and a half from town to shore. 
We were in another climate. Oranges, sugar-cane, avo- 
cados, limes, jocotes, and other fruits that cannot bear the 
cold of the town above us, flourished here. Walled on 
every side by vast cliffs, and overshadowed by high volca- 
noes, there were yet fertile valleys opening on the Lago here 
and there. Streams of considerable volume pour into it 
over rocky beds, or dash foaming down the high cliffs. 
Ten miles across was the ancient town of Atitlan, famed 
in legend and history. We stood in one of those mysteri- 
ous places seemingly below the rest of the world, for we 
could see the water fall into this valley ; but no human 
eye sees the outlet, nor are the waters, as in the valley of 
the Dead Sea, chiefly evaporated. The surface is evi- 
dently of nearly the same level at all seasons. In the 
opinion of some observers it is not improbable that this 
valley was an ancient crater, in the midst of which the 
volcano of Atitlan has risen, — much as Vesuvius has 
sprung from the ancient Somma ; but the more probable 
origin of the lake is that the rising volcanoes dammed 
up a valley. In the lava are many cavities, and possibly 
through these the surplus waters flow, to reappear in the 
many copious springs of the southern shore. We were 
minded to try the truth of that strange assertion of Juar- 
ros that the waters are so cold that all who venture in 
have their limbs frost-bitten and swollen. The water was 
clear and sweet, and we waded out some distance before 
there was depth enough to swim. From the sandy bottom 
rose abundant bubbles, — probably of carbonic acid, as 



FROM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 



153 



they had no smell. It was a most refreshing bath, — cool, 
but not so cold as the old historian reported. A new ex- 
perience, as we stood drying on the shore, was a shave 
with pumice-stones, which abound here. A little care is 
needed to avoid taking the cuticle away with the hair ; 
but these stone razors are admirable substitutes for Shef- 
field steel, and are always sharp. Water-fowl were 
abundant, and very tame. A good survey of this lake 
would be of great geological and antiquarian interest ; 
and we will speak of its depth and formation in a later 
chapter. 




Boat on the Lago de Atitlan. 



We should much have liked to cross the lake to the 
ruins on the other side ; but the sight of the only boats 
on the lake, as well as our limited time, deterred us. I 
have never before seen boats constructed on these lines ; 
the handles on the stern seeming necessary to lift the 
large, clumsy craft out of the water. 

Oh, the hot climb up that hill to Solola ! We started 
at half-past one, and did not get back until six ; and were 
then so tired that, soon after comida, we fell asleep, in 
spite of the music and rockets within a few rods of our 
bedroom. The decencies of life are much neglected here, 
as elsewhere in Guatemala, and our only washing-place 
was the veranda-rail, over which we leaned while Santiago 
poured a calabash of water over us. Those who have 



154 



GUATEMALA. 



travelled in Central France will have some idea of the 
privies of Central America, where they exist in any form, 
— indeed, if it were not for the hungry dogs, who act 
as scavengers, the streets would be in a most disgusting 
condition. 



w^^m^i 




Sketch Map of the Lago de Atitlan. 



All this day the mountains were clear ; but on the mor- 
row the clouds came down again. We called on the Jefe 
to say our adios, and found that neither he nor his secre- 
tary could tell us the names of the immense volcanoes 
before his very eyes every time he went out of his house- 
door. However, he called in an old Indio, who pointed 
out the distant Fuego, Agua, and Pacaya, and the nearer 
Atitlan, San Pedro, and Santa Clara. All these volcanoes 



FROM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 155 

have been duly baptized into the Church, to induce them 
to act as good citizens and christianos. 

The Jefe had promised me his mule, and Frank was to 
have the horse of the alcalde, as his mare, Mabel, had a 
sore back from the breaking of the tenedora, or crupper, 
on the journey to Solola. We secured for a dollar and 
twenty-five cents two mozos to take our luggage — much 
increased in weight by the cloths we had purchased in 
Quezaltenango — as far as Antigua, and at noon we 
started. Frank's little mare was a character. She took 
the saddle all right ; but when he tried to bridle her, she 
rose on her hind-legs and proposed a boxing-match. 
Frank very naturally declined, as he had no fists to match 
hers ; and as Santiago and the mozos had been sent ahead, 
we hardly knew what to do, until an old Spaniard kindly 
came to our aid and taught us a trick. He tied some 
rope around the creature's left ear, — a proceeding to 
which she made not the slightest objection, — and insert- 
ing a stout stick and twisting the rope so as to have a 
firm hold of the ear, I was able to keep her down while 
Frank put on the bridle. She was perfectly still as long 
as her ear was in limbo, and did not seem to suffer ; but 
it was useless to try to hold her by oncme force or by 
the nostrils. Every time she was bridled we had to go 
through the same process. 

We first rode down a very steep grade, sixteen hundred 
feet, to Panajachel, — a pleasing village a league and a 
half from Solola. Here are cultivated fields on the 
borders of the lake far surpassing anything of the kind I 
saw elsewhere in the republic. They are completely irri- 
gated by the water of many brooks, some of which make 
cascades by the wayside. Panajachel is the garden of 



166 GUATEMALA. 

Solola ; with about twelve hundred inhabitants, it has, 
besides its agricultural advantages, various minerals and 
especially fine clays. Hot-springs come to the surface on 
the lake shore. The road was being repaired, and we 
had to travel slowly, — glad, however, of the excuse for 
loitering, as the views of the lake and valley were not to 
be lightly passed by and forgotten. Then came a long, 
slow climb of fourteen hundred feet to San Andres 
Semetabaj, — a town of seventeen hundred inhabitants, 
which showed us as its only attraction a ruined church 
with a remarkably fine dome ; even Sir Christopher Wren 
never designed a finer. On this long climb we lingered 
to photograph the last view of the Lago de Atitlan and its 
volcanoes. The sun was in our faces, and shone over the 
silvery waters with the effect of moonlight. The three 
black giants — once so terrible, now so solemnly grand — 
kept back the surging sea of cloud from the Pacific 
that seemed struggling to climb their sides and reach the 
lake. Not a boat, not a human being, was visible as we 
looked our last on the beautiful lago and turned to a road 
quite unlike any we had travelled before. 

And now every day brought a quite new experience, 
as not merely the flowers and vegetation, but the very 
physical aspect of the country changed ; and, strangely 
enough, the night was the entr'acte. To-day we were 
crossing the immense wrinkles of the earth, while from 
Chichicastenango to Solola we had travelled with them. 
As we went up and down, the light faded ; and we still 
had three " wide rivers to cross," as well as many leagues 
to ride. As we passed the camps of the mozos de cargo 
the bright light of their fires dazzled us and made the 
road some way beyond seem much darker. We came at 




FROM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 157 

last to a plain. Here the good resolves never to travel 
in this country after dark, made when we lost the road 
at Encuentros, were renewed and strengthened ; for every 
now and then we saw in the dim. gray path what looked 
like ink-puddles, but, to our horror, as we were about to 
ride through one, we found it to be the head of an im- 
mense barranca which was gradually 
eating its way into the plain over 
which the road extended. The walls 
of this barranca were perpendicular, 
and apparently thirty yards deep ; and 
it was only one of a dozen intersecting 
our path. I have never since then 
passed a dark spot in the road at night 
without thinking of those awful abysses 
lying in wait to entrap the unwary 
traveller. Evidently few here travel after dark. In 
places were hedges of agave, and we saw here and there 
a house ; while the barking of dogs became more frequent, 
and we at last, about half-past nine, rode into Patziin. 
We had no little difficulty in finding where the posada 
was ; for Santiago, who led Mabel, did not like to leave 
the road, and the burden, as usual, fell on Frank, — who, 
fortunately, was well able to bear it. The inhabitants 
were all in bed ; but he at last aroused a man to direct us, 
and we found a good posada, with a comfortable room, 
clean beds, and hot chocolate. 

We slept long, and did not get our early meal until 
eight. Santiago added to his disrepute by failing to find 
any sacate (green fodder) for the animals, while Frank 
found a supply at once. We always had to buy or pay 
separately for our sacate and corn ; seldom was either to 



Washout in the Road. 



158 GUATEMALA. 

be found in a posada. While our bestias were feeding we 
went to the church, which had a curious campanile deco- 
rated (?) with sculptured angels at the angles. Inside, 
there was a wedding, — the couple kneeling within the 
chancel-rail under one red shawl. The officiating priest 
seemed to be an Irishman. As we rode out of town we 
passed a public fountain, to which excellent water is 
brought from a distance of several miles by a very 
ancient aqueduct. The fountain was of the usual form, 
— a column more or less ornamented rising in the midst 
of a circular or polygonal basin, which catches the water 
falling from one or more spouts near the top of the 
column. From this common basin horses drink and 
women dip water, the spouts being quite out of reach. 
The Indios place their water- jars on the edge of the large 
basin and conduct the water by a bambu pole just long 
enough to reach from the spout to the jar. 

At eleven o'clock we reached Patzicia, but did not stop 
even to examine the ruined church. The evening before 
we had noticed a long cliff some ten feet high, — evidently 
caused by a comparatively recent subsidence ; and here 
we saw other evidences of earthquakes in remote ages 
before the present town was built. On the trees by the 
road was a beautiful yellow bignonia, and in the yards we 
saw fine double pink and white dahlias growing as trees, — 
fifteen feet high, and with stems eight inches in diameter. 
Chimaltenango, the head of this Department, did not 
interest us, and we did not linger. 

The road was level, but winding and dusty. We were 
approaching the volcanoes Agua and Fuego, which kept 
changing their relative position in a very puzzling manner. 
Several small hamlets — San Lorenzo, San Luis, Pastores, 



FROM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 



159 



and Jocotenango — served as milestones on our Way. 
Near the last place we discovered a man on fire in the 
road ; and it was no easy matter to extinguish the confla- 
gration. Tobacco did the mischief, and aguardiente pre- 
vented the senses of the poor Indio from working fast 
enough to save much of his clothing ; and as we rode 
away we saw his companions stripping the smoking rags 




Antigua and the Volcan de Agua. 

from his singed body. About dusk we came to the Hotel 
del Commercio in Antigua, the capital of the Department 
of Sacatepequez. 

Early Sunday morning we went to the Plaza, and from 
the second story of the cabildo photographed both the 
great volcanoes Agua and Fuego. Directly before us 
were the ruins of the palace of the Viceroy, the arms 
of Spain carved in the stone, which still stands firmly, a 
century after the terrible earthquake which shattered the 
rest of the building and ruined the whole city. On the 



160 GUATEMALA. 

left stood the roofless cathedral, and dotted thickly over 
the plain were other ruined churches, — eighty, it is said, 
— which looked as if recently demolished. We had our 
hestias saddled, and rode over to Ciudad Vieja, distant 
about a league. This was the second city founded by 
Alvarado (Tecpan Quatemalan being the first), and de- 
stroyed, together with the widow of the Conquistador, in 
1541, by the earthquake and torrent of water from the 
ancient crater of Agua. The town is small enough now. 
After watching a man make roquetas (rockets),^ we 
rode to the Banos de Medina, which we had some diffi- 
culty in finding; we took, however, at last a short cut 
through a coffee plantation where the berries were large 
and ripening. The baths are in a small house of several 
rooms. The one Frank and I occupied had a large tank, 
deep enough for a swim ; the water was slightly sulphu- 
rous, and but a few degrees warmer than the atmosphere. 
It was well worth the real it cost us. 

In the afternoon we strolled among the ruins of Anti- 
gua, which are very fascinating. All the churches were 
of solid masonry, with vaulted roofs, — some still entire, 
and supporting a mass of vegetation, among which the 
Phytolacca was common. The outlay of money in build- 
ing all these elaborate churches must have been enor- 
mous for material and transportation (many of the tiles 
being Spanish), although the actual labor was by unpaid 
slaves-. We were told strange stories of the skeletons of 
mother and child found walled in a church : tunnels 



^ The cases of these rockets were of bambu, and usually three were 
attached to one stick. As they were fired in daylight, and valued for tlieir 
effect upon the ear rather than the eye, the proportion of explosive powder 
was increased, — each discharge giving three sharp cracks. 



FROM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 



161 



connecting the churches and nunneries just outside the 
city ; infant skeletons in a vault of one of the nunneries, 
etc. With these romantic associations in mind, we poked 




Ruined Church in Antigua. ' 

hither and thither among the mighty ruins ; but we 
found only the curiosities of architecture (of these there 
were enough to occupy me many days) and the traces 
the treasure-hunters had left in the walls. Frank found 

11 



1G2 GUATEMALA. 

in one of the vaults a well-drawn fresco covered with a 
thick coat of whitewash, and we tried to pry off a por- 
tion ; but could not succeed without too much damaging 
it. Horses were pasturing on the grass-grown roof of a 
part of one of the churches, and a few had portions still 
in use as places of worship, while another was'occupied by 
a blacksmith. In one of these we saw some finely carved 
wooden panels. All about the city eucalyptus-trees had 
been planted. The roads are very good, and the alaineda, 
or public promenade, is attractive. The corner houses 
often had most comfortable projecting windows, so placed 
that one could see in both streets at once. 

There are two industries in Antigua of considerable 
interest to the visitor, — the carving of cane-heads, which 
is done in a most artistic manner, equalling, perhajos, 
the famous ivory carvings of Dieppe, in Normandy ; and 
the manufacture of dolls, or effigies, mostly of cloth, 
representing every costume and occupation of the Indios. 
These little figures — seldom more than five inches high 

— have often an expression that would not be thought 
possible, considering the material of their fabric. Solola 
is another place where these dolls, or munecos, are made, 

— a single family, I believe, having the monopoly ; but 
in Antigua we found a much greater variety. Especially 
good are their figures to represent the Nativity of Christ ; 
for it is customary in many of the towns to keep open 
house at Christmas-tide, and each household tries to pro- 
vide a Bethlehem, — much as in Germany a Christmas- 
tree is arranged ; but the groups of Shepherds, the Wise 
Men from the East, as well as the Holy Family, are often 
made in the most careful and artistic way, all from bits 
of cloth. 



FROM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 163 

Here I bought my first mule, paying for her eighty 
dollars in Guatemaltecan money (silver of the value of 
the buzzard dollar of the United States), the purchaser 
giving United States gold at twenty per cent premium ; 
consequently the mule cost really sixty-six dollars and 
sixty-seven cents. After riding her two months I sold her 
for a hundred dollars. We engaged two mozos de cargo, 
and then felt at leisure to look more about the city. Near 
the hotel was a cliicheria, or place where chicJia is sold. 
This drink is here made from jocotes, and the cider-like 
beverage is drunk from pint bowls or calabashes. Intoxi- 
cation follows ; and we frequently heard women shrieking 
in the arms of men, while unearthly yells and laugh- 
ter greeted the outcries. Owing to indulgence in this 
dissipation, our mozos could not walk in the morning, 
and we spent some hours in searching for others. The 
best we could do was to get one for six reals to take our 
carcaste to Ciudad Vieja, the Jefe at Antigua giving me a 
requisition on the comandante there for another. We 
sent Santiago with a drunken mozo direct to Guatemala 
City ; and we afterwards found that the wretched mozo, 
when well out of the city, dropped his burden and ran 
away, compelling Santiago to get a substitute, with whom 
he arrived safely. 

For ourselves, we retraced the road of yesterday to 
Ciudad Vieja, and found the cabildo, where the soldiers 
captured the necessary mozo, — literally at the point of 
the bayonet ; but he was a capital fellow, in spite of his 
forced service. While the hunt was in progress, we 
looked about the town ; but there was not much to see, 
except the elaborately wrought doors of the church. 
There were few indications of the awful ruin the flood 



1G4 GUATEMALA. 

from Agua had brought upon the town in 1541 ; but 
some of the buildings seemed to be partly resting on sub- 
structures of older date. Some of the slaves in uniform 
called soldiers told us we could not go into the presence 
of the comandante without taking off our sjours ; so I 
haughtily declined to go in, or even dismount, and or- 
dered him to come out and receive the Jefe's letter. He 
meekly obeyed, seeming to be a very decent fellow. 
Clouds covered both volcanoes, and our road led south- 
ward between them. We had a good enough road, down 
hill constantly, and winding into the valleys on the side 
of Fuego, — often crossing fine streams of clear cold 
water. The crater of the volcano was still smoking,* — as 
it has been since 1880, when there was a slight eruption. 
We could see that the crater-wall was broken down to 
give issue to what looked more like scorige than lava. 
Gases have acted extensively on the whole summit, 
which displays many colors, from the decomposition of 
the lavas. 

As the day closed, the road became bad and full of 
small stones. The foothills were capped with irregular 
masses of lava, which in the sunset looked not unlike the 
ruined castles on the Rhine. We were in the region of 
canefields, and we often caught a glimpse of the Pacific 
Ocean. At seven we rode into Escuintla and found the 
hotel comfortable enough ; but all night there was a 
horrid noise, — drums, rockets, bombs, and shouts, — 
and we dreamed that the town was being captured by 
storm. 

We had entered the region of railroads again ; and 
our train started next morning at half-past six for San 
Jose, on the Pacific. The fare for the round trip was 



FROM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 165 

three dollars. We had a second-class carriage, as the 
only first-class carriage is reserved for the President. 
At the station, in the lowest part of the town, the height 
above sea-level is eleven hundred feet ; and for the first 
three miles out the grade is rather steep. The remaining 
twenty-five miles offered no difficulties in road-building ; 
but the culverts and bridges are fast decaying, and as 
they are not promptly repaired, the road is not safe. 
The run was made in two hours, — certainly not a high 
rate of speed. There were fine views of the volcanoes, 
and some interesting scenes at the stations. As we 
approached the coast the line crossed several shallow 
lagoons, and the country looked low and uninviting. 
I did not, however, see evidence of much ill-health 
among the natives, although the manners and customs 
were loose enough. The railroad [ferro-carril] ended in 
a respectable station in San Jos6, at the head of a 
fine iron pier extending some six hundred feet into the 
sea, — beyond the surf, but not where vessels can come 
alongside. 

We had seen the Pacific the day before as we rode from 
Antigua, and it was, as always, a welcome sight to me, 
for some of the pleasantest years of my life have been 
passed on its shores or on its islands. To-day its waves 
rolled up on the sand in so inviting a way that as soon 
as we had found the hotel on the beach and ordered 
almuerzo, we returned to the pier, and, under its shelter, 
stripped and waded in. The rollers took us off our feet ; 
and as large sharks were snuffing about just outside the 
iron piles of the pier, within a few yards of us, we had a 
sufficiently exciting bath. I have never seen such large 
sharks before, even in the shark-haunted shores of the 



166 GUATEMALA. 

Antilles or the Hawaiian Islands ; but it is claimed that 
they dare not A^enture between the piles. The young 
sharks however have no such scruples ; and we kicked 
several of the little fellows out of our way. The iron- 
work was thickly covered with barnacles and other crus- 
taceans, and it took considerable skill to avoid beingr 
dashed against this. 

On the pier-head there was a cool sea-breeze, and we 
spent much of our time there while waiting for the return 
train. A pier was built here in 1868 ; but a storm of un- 
usual severity soon after destroyed it, and the present 
structure was built in a more substantial manner. The 
piles are of cast iron and hollow, fitted with auger- 
points, by which they are screwed down into the sand. 
The end of the wharf is covered by a shed, where are 
provided three steam hoisting-engines. As San Jose 
is, like most of the ports on the Pacific coast, merely 
an open roadstead, vessels do not care to wait long 
there, and stout lighters are provided to bring cargo 
between ship and pier. Even with lighters of some 
twenty-five tons, the task is not always easy, and 
many a passenger gets a wetting in jumping from the 
small boat to the iron capre used in rouo;h weather 
to hoist the human freight to the pier-top. Since the 
completion of the railroad, in 1880, the tracks have 
been laid along the pier, — thus facilitating the hand- 
ling of freight, much of which is lumber coming from 
the Oregon coast, and sugar, coffee, and hides going 
to San Francisco. To-day two ships were at anchor, 
and a steamer was expected. 

As we sat in the cool shade on the end of the pier, 
looking dreamily over the Pacific, I felt that the journey 



FEOM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 167 

across the continent, as we had made it, was far pleas- 
anter than when, in 1869, I had used the railroad, — 
then but a week old. We decided unanimously that the 
difference between the two oceans was not a matter of 
fancy merely. I had seen the middle Atlantic smooth 
as a mill-pond, and had been miserably seasick on the 
raging Pacific ; so without going deeper into this ques- 
tion, our thoughts wandered from one thing to another, 
mine going back to the days when Istapa, the old port 
at our left hand, was more than a swamp, and when the 
Spanish shipyards there were humming with the busy 
workmen who had learned their craft on the Kio Tinto 
at Palos or on the sandy shores of Cadiz. Why had the 
place become so changed ? My eye wandered up and 
down the coast for an answer to a suggestion that came 
to me. But only a rather steep beach was there, — no 
cliff, not even a detached rock, to solve the problem of 
whether the coast was at the same level as in the seven- 
teenth century ; for this was the way I was trying to 
answer my own question. A rise of eight feet would 
explain everything about that deserted harbor ; but there 
was nothing except the steep slope of the beach to indi- 
cate any change of level. Had I been able to see any 
rocks within the limit of two miles, I should have left the 
cool pier and trudged through the hot black sand to ask 
them. Frank's more practical mind was working in 
another direction ; and he took up the conversation with 
a question whether a railroad to the Atlantic would 
change this port as well as the rest of the republic. 
Then we discussed the several schemes proposed for in- 
fusing a commercial spirit into this charmingly uncom- 
mercial country ; and although we had not yet seen the 



168 



GUATEMALA. 



route selected for the Northern Railroad, we had been 
over the track of several of the other paper railroads, 
and on our map — that inseparable companion — we 
sketched the roads. Here is the map we made, with 
several additions of a later date, — a map which shows 
fairly enough what can, and in time probably will, be 
done to open the country. First we discussed a road 




from Livingston to Coban, to open the coffee region ; 
and as we were fresh from the very route, we tackled 
the problem unhesitatingly. The road, we decided, 
should run up the coast towards Cocali, turn through the 
forest six miles to Cliocon, crossing the Chocon River on 
a single span, then over the smaller Rio Cienega and along 
the north shore of the Lago de Izabal, then a little to the 
northward of the Rio Polochic, bridging the Cahabon 
near the limestone ledges east of Pansos, thence through 
Teleman, and by nearly the cart-road route to Coban. Per- 
haps a hundred and twenty-five or thirty miles, in all, of 



FROM QUEZALTENANGO TO THE PACIFIC. 169 

single track, would result in quadrupling the coffee export 
of Guatemala. It would then be profitable to raise more 
of the delicious oranges of Teleman, — oranges such as 
Florida can never raise ; the mahogany of the Cienega 
and Chocon could be marketed ; and all Alta Verapaz be 
a plantation of coffee and fruits. More than this, the road 
would pay from the first through train. Before us on the 
west coast was the sugar and cacao region, — that land 
that produces the royal chocolate which outside barba- 
rians never get, but which might be raised very extensive- 
ly from Soconusco eastward if a railroad should be built 
over the level lands from Escuintla to E-etalhuleu and 
Ocos. A road from Guatemala City through Salama to 
Coban would not only open the rich sugar estate of San 
Geronimo, but connect the capital with the Mexican 
system, which will probably go to Coban eventually. At 
Belize the English are trying to build a road inland to 
Peten to open the logwood and mahogany forests ; and 
they need a road along the coast to open the settlements 
that now have no outlet save by water. A hundred and 
forty miles, at the outside, would connect Belize with 
Livingston. The roads in Honduras will extend between 
Trujillo and Puerto Barrios, there connecting with the 
Northern Railroad of Guatemala. Not one of these 
projected lines presents any very difficult engineering 
problems. The financial question is the only obstacle ; 
and with the exception of the first two, — both coast 
roads, and of simple construction, — they would not pay 
for a few years ; that is, until the plantations that would 
spring up along their way came into bearing, — that, 
however, in this climate, would not be long, even for 
india-rubber. 



170 



GUATEMALA. 



We had not finished our discussion of the railways 
when it was time for ahnuerzo ; and we went to the 
hotel, where, besides a good meal and the largest plan- 
tains (thirteen inches long) I ever saw, there were a num- 
ber of captive animals, — the most attractive being a 
bright little monkey who was very eager to open my 
watch. 




Bread-fruit (Artocarpus incisa). 



CHAPTER VI. 

GUATEMALA CITY. 

THE run back to Escuintla took two hours and a half, 
and our comida was welcome at five o'clock. In 
the evening we strolled to the church, — an ancient 
building, — and found all the inside in confusion ; the 
altar was hidden from profane eyes by a cotton curtain, 
while preparations were being made for the fiesta of 
December 8, — the Immaculate Conception. One of the 
attendants showed us with great pride a huge doll, repre- 
senting the Virgin Mary, standing on a blue globe studded 
with silver stars. Beneath her feet was a culebra grande ; 
and on twisting his tail the serpent's tongue was thrust 
out, — to the intense delight of the Indian devotees. 
The priest — if such were his dignity — wished us to 
examine the lace robes of the " Queen of Heaven," and 
to note particularly the decorations. As we, returned to 
the hotel we heard a marimba, and soon met a religious 
procession, consisting mostly of women. In a small plaza 
we saw, covering a figure of the Virgin, a booth decorated 
with flowers and fruits, — especially long strings of 
manzanillas} Before this image men and women (of re- 
spectable rank, we were assured) were dancing, disguised 
in horrible masks representing devils and animals. 

1 These little apples — about the size of crab-apples — are tasteless un- 
cooked, but make an excellent dulce ; the senoras know how to use them for 
a sweet pickle. 



172 GUATEMALA. 

Escuintla is the favorite watering-place of the capital, 
and its baths are certainly attractive, — especially to the 
Guatemalans, whose city is supplied with miserable water. 
The citizens, some five thousand in number, are occupied 
in commerce and agriculture. In the near future Es- 
cuintla seems destined to become the railroad centre of 
the republic, as the lines from Puerto Barrios and from 
Ocos will meet there. 

Early in the morning of the thu-d day of our stay at 
this place we started out for one of the best bathing- 
places, on the way taking several photographs. At a 
bath-house we passed, the men bathing in the tank came 
out frequently through the wide-open door to talk with 
the women who were washing clothes in the brook out- 
side. As these men were wholly naked, I wished to pho- 
tograph this " custom " of the country ; but when they 
saw the camera they modestly retired within and shut 
the door. 

Our own bath, an open pool some fifty by a hun- 
dred feet, was of a depth increasing from three to eight 
feet. A high brick wall bounded one side, and we were 
told that beyond this was a bath for women. A shed in 
which to undress, and a tile platform on which to dry 
one's self, was all the apparatus ; but the water was cool 
and of a wonderful clearness, and we prolonged our 
swim. The fee was only a medio (five cents). In the 
season, which extends from December to March, doubt- 
less the crowd is disagreeable ; but we had the pool 
entirely to ourselves. 

After almuerzo we started for Amatitlan ; and a weary, 
dusty road it was, although the main road to the capital 
from the port. Frank's mare seemed as though sunstruck, 



GUATEMALA CITY. 173 

and sank down powerless by the road. Fortunately we 
were near a brook. We poured cool water on her head, 
and she soon recovered. We met great herds of cattle 
on their way from the dry uplands to the juicy pastures 
of the lowlands, and also stages full of miserable people, 
shaken and dusty, and with the look one might fancy 
a soul in purgatory would assume, — always supposing 
it had a face. 

The Falls of the Michatoya by the roadside relieved the 
monotony of the way, but were not so beautiful as I had 
expected from Stephens's account. We found the rails of 
the ferro-carril laid as far as Palin ; ^ and it was graded 
beyond Amatitlan, on its way to Guatemala City, which 
it has since (1886) reached. Basaltic rock was abundant 
along the road, and so were beehives, — generally made 
from a hollow log and hung horizontally under the eaves 
of the houses. Honey, costing us a medio a quart, was 
very good ; wax, however, is a more valuable product, as 
it plays a very important part in the service of religion, 
masses costing so many pounds of wax candles. The bees 
seem to be quite inoffensive, and the hives often hung 
close to the house-doors. Sugar estates were common in 
this district, the water-power being generally furnished 
by the Michatoya river. The chimneys of the ingenios 
did not indicate severe or frequent earthquakes here. 
Oranges, not of the finest quality, sold at three cents a 
dozen. Late in the afternoon we passed some cochineal 
plantations in a rather neglected state, and soon after 

^ Paliu is the market-garden and orchard of the metropolis, and the fruit 
is good, but not cultivated with any care ; nor is there here or elsewhere in 
Guatemala any attempt to procure new and choice varieties of either fruits or 
vegetables. 



174 



GUATEMALA. 



entered Amatitlan, where we found a pretty little posada. 
Our mozos, who were fine fellows, were not far behmd us. 
The barometer told us that we were 3,650 feet above San 
Jose. 

In the morning, finding sacate very dear, we made 
up our bestias' breakfast with maiz, and started betimes. 
We rode to the Lago de Amatitlan, which is very shal- 
low, but clear near the shore. In the depths of this lake 
were thrown, according to tradition, immense treasures ; 
and every now and then some ancient idol or bit of pot- 
tery is dragged up. On the banks were willows of con- 
siderable size ; altogether, the whole scene was very 

different from any- 
thing we had found 
in the republic. 
The fishermen's 
boats were of a pe- 
culiar shape, — 
projecting below 
the water-line, so 
that a cross-section 
amidships would be like the diagram. In trjdng a short 
cut back to the main road, we were lost in a cafetal, and 
had to ask the people in charge to open a locked gate 
and let us out upon our road. We ascended seven hun- 
dred feet and found a good path. In various places there 
were deposits of fine pumice, much of which had been 
excavated, leaving caverns large enough to shelter many 
people from the weather. We entered the capital about 
noon, meeting Santiago on the outskirts, who conducted 
us to the Hotel del Globo. At this hotel, which was kept 
by a wretched German, we found our mozos, and the 




Section of Boat at Amatitlan. 



GUATEMALA CITY. 175 

luggage we had sent from Coban and Antigua, in perfect 
order. 

We were now in the principal city of Central America, 
— a city well worthy of study ; but not at all a represen- 
tative one, for all that. After the earthquake of Santa 
Marta, in 1773, had ruined the beautiful city of Antigua 
Guatemala, the inhabitants sought a more stable site, 
farther from the slopes of the great volcanoes ; and the 
valley of the Hermitage was selected, towards the north. 
Here was the half church, half fortress, that still inter- 
ests the visitor ; but all around was a sterile plain, and 
its elevation and distance from any port seemed most 
unfavorable to the growth of a large city. Eighty-four 
miles separate Guatemala City from its port of San Jose ; 
while the Atlantic ports are more than a hundred leagues 
away, with no carriage-road between. In spite of these 
and other disadvantages, the city of Saint James has grown 
to be the largest and most important of Central America. 
It numbers among its churches some of the finest in 
the country ; and its other public buildings are of im- 
posing size, if devoid of any architectural merit. Almost 
all the houses are of one story ; and the paved streets, 
laid out at right angles, and of nearly uniform width, do 
not attract the stranger as he rides over the exceedingly 
rough pavement. Indeed, our first impressions were 
very unfavorable ; for had we not seen Coban, Quezalte- 
nango, Solola, and Antigua, — all of them much more 
beautiful than any part of Guatemala City ? It was not 
until we were well out of the city that we were pleased 
with it, — not until it became a confused mass of white 
walls almost hidden in foliage, with the church-towers 
rising above, and in the distance those two noble volca- 



176 



guatp:mala. 




GUATEMALA CITY. 177 

noes higher still, their heads well in the clouds. A city 
of sixty thousand inhabitants, with its houses extending 
six miles north and south, with a population of many 
nations and tribes, — mingling the sixteenth with the 
nineteenth century in many customs and business ways, 
— was not to be seen at a glance, was not to be under- 
stood even after a sojourn of a few days. We envied 
the faculty of our English cousins who can come to 
America, spend a few weeks, — even days, — and then 
go home and write with more knowledge of the places 
they have just glanced at than the inhabitants ever 
possessed. 

As we entered the city we passed at some distance the 
fort of San Jose ; and it was significant that the guns 
all pointed towards the city it was supposed to protect. 
Taking no interest in military matters, which I am con- 
strained to believe are undesirable if not unnecessary 
relics of a barbarous age, I did not go any nearer to see 
whether, as in the case of San Felipe, the guns were 
more deadly to those within than those outside the fort ; 
but the walls looked queer, and we were assured that 
they were of adobe, painted to imitate stone blocks, — a 
kind of Quaker wall. 

Although the Plaza is always the principal focus of a 
Spanish town, no street ever leads directly to it, all lead 
by it, as if accidentally ; and so we found ourselves in the 
public square of Guatemala before we had been an hour 
in the city. It was simply a square taken from the tire- 
some rectangles of the city ; and only on one side had it 
any sufficiently imposing boundaries. The Government 
had suppressed the priestly power ; but its monument 
still towered above the very insignificant buildings used 

12 



178 GUATEMALA. 

as Government offices. This metropolitan cathedral is 
about two hundred and seventy-five feet long, with some 
architectural pretensions, but belittled by its front tow- 
ers, which were added a few years ago. The colossal 
statues of the four Evangelists which guard the platform 
in front detract from the effect of a good facade. The 
interior is plain. In a vault beneath the church repose 
the remains of Eafael Carrera, the former President of 
the republic. On the evening of the seventh of Decem- . 
ber the whole front was illuminated with small lamps in 
honor of the Immaculate Conception. Within was a large 
doll dressed to represent the Virgin Mary, " sanctissima, 
jjurissima, caramba ! — carissima,'" as we heard a young 
heathen exclaim. She stood on a blue ball spangled 
with stars, and trod the culebra grande as at Escuintla. 
All the choir-boys wore scarlet robes. It seemed as 
though the attendants rather hustled the gauze angels, 
which trod on snakes in imitation of Madonna. The 
other churches were numerous, and the more imposing 
date from the days of the Spanish domination, when all 
good things, including plenty of money, were in priestly 
hands. Perhaps the most curious of all the churches is 
that one on the Cerro del Carmen which antedates the 
city. Santiago carried my camera out to the distant hill, 
from which I not only brought away a picture of the 
church, but also chose that position for a view of the 
city, after patiently waiting for the clouds to roll away 
from the volcanoes of Fuego and Agua. The church it- 
self seems more a fortress than a temple of the Prince of 
Peace. The heavy gates stood ajar, and we entered the 
courtyard of two centuries agone. In the midst stood a 
round tower, seemingly solid, and decorated by a fillet 



GUATEMALA CITY. 179 

carved with cherubim in low relief. Within the dark 
church all was still and deserted ; only the graves be- 
neath the pavement of tombstones were tenanted. A 
curtain hung before the image at the altar, and a care- 
fully written notice requested the visitor not to uncover 
the Virgin without permission of the sacristan. In the 
bell-tower hung a bell with the date 1748, — twenty-eight 




Church of the Carmen. 



years before the city was built within its sound, when the 
heavy, awkward burden must have been brought with so 
much difficulty into this lonely valley. Two others, with 
the painfully modern date of 1872, hung by its side. 

We wasted the whole morning in a futile attempt to 
call on the President. His house was a large one-story 
building at the corner of the Plaza, not distinguishable 
from its surroundings except by the guard of soldiers at 



180 GUATEMALA. 

the gateway to its interior courtyard. The corporal in 
charge refused to take my card in, telling several false- 
hoods as to the whereabouts of the President his master ; 
but at last a superior officer arrived, who at once ordered 
the fellow to take the card, and we were soon ushered, 
without further ceremony, into the bedroom of the Chief 

of the State. It is the custom in this 

O O O country to arrange the chairs in a re- 

(J ception-room on either side of a sofa 

O O O ^^^ ^t right angles to it ; and the host 

is expected to sit on the sofa and enter- 
tain his guests on either hand. President Barrios occu- 
pied this place of honor when I entered ; but as we 
conversed he moved about until we sat side by side. 
He had not forgotten our interview at Totonicapan, 
and was affable, seeming to understand our wishes per- 
fectly. He said we should have all we asked for, and 
called an officer to conduct us to the Department of the 
Interior, where Senor Lainfiesta, the Secretario de Estado 
en el Despacho de Fomento, also promised to expedite our 
business. Some days later, while discussing the resources 
of Guatemala with the Minister of Foreign Relations, I 
spoke incidentally of the bad arrangement of the Guate- 
malan exhibit at Boston in the International Exhibition 
of 1883 ; whereupon the minister asked me to accompany 
him to the President and acquaint him with the matter. 
We went at once, — simply across the street ; and it 
was gratifying to see the stupid soldiers and the inso- 
lent corporal jump up and salute the cabinet officer as 
we passed in unannounced. The President's room was 
full of disorder, — articles of daily use, with books, guitars, 
newspapers, all mixed together. In the courtyard was a 



GUATEMALA CITY. 181 

fine bull and several sheep, just imported. I felt that 
Senor Barrios greatly improved on acquaintance, and his 
bright, quick eye was decidedly intelligent. He was not 
tall, but stout, with an air of military stiffness which 
wore off slowly. In our conversation I asked him to 
refer me to any printed accounts of his personal history ; 
but he smiled and said, " That, senor, has never been 
written." Alas for the progress of the country ! that 
life was soon to end by violence, in an attempt to restore 
the confederation of the republics, — a scheme very dear 
to this energetic man, who in ten years did more for the 
internal prosperity of his own republic than has been 
effected by all the governments of Central America in 
fifty years ! 

There is in Guatemala but one theatre, and to that 
we went on a Saturday night. The building, a gen- 
eral imitation of the Eglise de la Madeleine in Paris, 
stands in the centre of a plaza of considerable size laid 
out as a public garden.^ The Government subsidy of 
$25,000 to $40,000 permits the employment of good 
artists for five or six months in the year \ and we saw a 
company fresh from Madrid play " La Mujer del Ven- 
gador." The ballet was tolerable, — the males far sur- 
passing the females in skill and agility. The tickets are 
kept by the visitor, the coupon being taken at the en- 
trance. The auditorium was lighted by gasoline suffi- 

^ It was in this garden that the attempt was made to kill President Barrios, 
on the evening of Sunday, April 13, 1884. He was walking with General 
Barrundia, the Minister of War, when a bomb exploded, severely wounding 
both; but to allay public excitement the President bravely walked twice 
around the garden, and then home. The would-be assassin was captured, and 
proved to be a former conspirator whom Barrios had generously pardoned. 
The bomb was loaded with poisoned bullets. 



182 GUATEMALA. 

ciently, but the decoration was plain, and not attractive. 
The parquette was occupied almost exclusively by gen- 
tlemen, who gazed serenely at the ladies in the boxes 
which surround this, and were gazed upon in turn in a 
way that would scandalize even a Boston audience. The 
wife of the President, a lady of great personal beauty, 
was pointed out to us ; and we were assured that it was 
not improper to stare at her, even with glasses. In all 
such places the audience always claims quite as much of 
my attention as the stage ; and among the boxes I 
noticed an elderly lady of decidedly American appearance, 
and I fancied she might be the distinguished Madame 
Susannah Penol, to whom I had letters. A few days 
later, as I was ushered into her reception-room, I saw at 
once that I was not mistaken ; for on the wall was a 
capital portrait of the lady I had seen. 

Our hotel proved a most wretched one ; the comida 
was poor in quality and insufficient in quantity. A 
ballet-dancer and her pet dog took most of the best bits 
as the various dishes were passed among the company. 
Our host proved much the same sort as we had met at 
Quiche ; and we were compelled to move to the Gran 
Hotel, which we found very comfortable. 

On Sunday the correct course is to see a cock-fight in 
the forenoon, a bull-fight in the afternoon, and to go to 
church and wash up in the evening. We varied the pro- 
gramme, and in the morning visited the Chief of Police, 
Colonel Pratt (formerly of New York), from whom we 
learned many points of interest in the municipal regula- 
tion of this city. The Cemeterio, or Campo Santo, next 
claimed our attention, where we found catacombs partly 
underground and lighted by a clerestory. Several very 



GUATEMALA CITY. 183 

showy monuments have been erected since the prohibition 
of burial within the churches, though but few of them are 
in good taste. A far pleasanter visit was to the " Bola de 
Oro " baths, near the Teatro Nacional, where we had two 
good bath-rooms, with douche and plunge, all for four 
reals. The water in the city is not good, and in the 
baths its turbid character was disagreeable. The pres- 
sure on the mains is regulated by water-towers, usually 
built into the house ; and not being sufficient to supply 
a douche, the water for this purpose has to be pumped 
into an elevated cistern. From the bath we went to an 
exhibition of native products and industries in the build- 
ing of the Instituto Nacional. The exhibition was a 
good one, and some of the products — as chocolate, rice, 
sugar, and wax — were of exceedingly high quality. 
More interesting to me was the Instituto itself. Origi- 
nally a monastery, the Government confiscated it when 
the religious orders were suppressed, and President Barrios 
established in the vacant halls a college which would be 
creditable to any country. We went through the reci- 
tation-rooms, the physical laboratory, the dormitories, — 
where the iron bedsteads looked neat and comfortable, — 
into the printing-room ; thence through the garden to the 
menagerie, where were many good specimens of native 
beasts and birds. We next visited the meteorological ob- 
servatory, the faculty room, where hung a dismal paint- 
ing of some poor Indios being torn to pieces by dogs at 
the command of the Conquistadores, and finally the mu- 
seum, where, together with stuffed animals and birds, a 
series of specimens of native woods (labelled only with 
native names), minerals, ores, and the rest, we found a 
choice collection of antiquities. Here on the walls were 



184 



GUATEMALA. 




the dress-swords of Alvarado and Cortez, and strange 

stirrups, of wrought iron of great size and weight, that 

the Conquistadores had brought 

from Spain.^ In the cases were 

grotesque incense-burners that my 

friend E. Rockstroh had brought 

from the country of the Lacan- 

dones ; idols from various places, 

a lava mask from Copan (figured 

on page 200), figurines in terra- 
cotta with tails and tigre-heads, 

stone figures with turbans, — all 

on a subsequent morning made Spanish stirrup. 

their impression on my plates. But an incense-burner of 

red clay found in 
the Lago de Ama- 
titlan failed to ex- 
cite the delicate 
film, so dark was 
the room and so re- 
fractory the color ; 
the form was most 
complicated, quite 
rivalling in this re- 
spect those ancient 
Japanese bronzes 
used for the same 

^ One of these stirrups 
(seen in the figure), given 
to me by Don Enrique 
Toriello, then Jefe at Liv- 

Terra-cotta Figurines. . . t, , j. 

mgston, now Charge d Ai- 
faires and Consul-General of Guatemala at New York, weighs five and a half 
pounds, and is seventeen inches long. 




GUATEMALA CITY. 185 

purpose. In the library are many valuable manuscripts, 
mostly unpublished, but of interest to the historian and 
antiquarian. 

Almost worn out with sight-seeing, we stopped at a 
restaurant near by, and with our lunch had some native 
cerveza negra, — an unpleasant beer brewed from mo- 
lasses. We had lost the cock-fight ; but there was to be 
a bull-fight in the afternoon, to which we were strangely 
attracted, and we purchased seats under the roof at 
three reals, walking over to the Plaza de Toros at four 
o'clock. There was a fair audience — perhaps six or 
seven thousand — in the immense circular building or 
enclosure. As an overture we had an exhibition-drill. 
The soldiers wore red jackets, blue trousers, and white 
caps and cross-belts. The evolutions were well done to 
the bugle-notes, and the whole performance was to me 
much like a ballet, — simply a complicated series of pre- 
concerted movements of the human body. 

A horseman clad in black, mounted on a superb white 
horse, then rode across the ring and formally asked leave of 
the Chief of the Corrida to open the games. The Chief 
tossed him a roll of colored paper, which he carried to 
the Amador del Toro and then backed gracefully out of 
the enclosure. Then came the Espada, Manuel Aguilar of 
Seville, with three Banderilleros and as many Picadores, 
followed by horses, mules, and mozos. There were only 
five " bulls," of which three were oxen, — and they 
might all have been, for any fight they showed. The 
Picadores did their work, and the Primero Espada did 
some excellent dodging ; but this did not satisfy us, so 
bloodthirsty had we become. At first we wanted to have 
a horse killed, and at last nothing short of the death of 



186 GUATEMALA. 

a man would satisfy us. But we were not to see any- 
thing of the kind ; and after the bulls had trotted about 
the Plaza until half-past five, the show was over, and the 
unsatisfied audience dispersed. What would a Roman 
audience have done in the Flavian amphitheatre, had 
their wild-beast propensities been thus excited and disap- 
pointed ? So far as the City of Guatemala is concerned, 
the bull-fight is growing unfashionable, and even with the 
populace such uninteresting shows cannot long attract. 
The Guatemaltecans should import some of the fashion- 
able ''Cribb Clubs" of our Northern cities, if they still 
wish to see human blood flow. At present there is more 
brutality in the sparring exhibitions of Boston than in 
the bull-fights of the Central American city. 

Our day was not yet ended ; and as we crossed the Plaza 
in the evening, on returning from a call on a friend, we 
found the pavement crowded with people and dotted with 
little fires, over which various Indios were cooking dough- 
nuts, fritters, and chocolate. The fritters were eaten 
with plenty of honey, and were very palatable. 

Another night we had an opportunity to see one of the 
religious processions so common in former days, — after- 
wards prohibited by law, but now occasionally allowed, as 
there is little danger of a renewal of the priestly power, and 
these spectacles please the priests, women, and children. 
This particular one, which we attended in part, was in 
honor of " Nuestra Senora de Guadeloupe." A huge doll, 
all lace and tinsel, was carried through the streets with 
music, flowers, and fireworks. It was a miracle that the 
image was not set on fire, — especially when the "toro." 
all blazing with squibs and Roman candles, ran through 
the crowd ; but no accident befell, so far as I knew. I 



GUATEMALA CITY. 18T 

am somewhat confused as to the person the image repre- 
sented, but was told that she was visiting the holy lady 
[sanlissima senora) who lived in the church to which the 
procession marched. On arriving at the door the visitor 
was obliged to tip over and go in head first in a horizon- 
tal position. It was no doubt all right, but it seemed so 
utterly undignified that we did not care to go into the 
church and see how she got up again. 

At the hippodrome in the plain of Yocotenaugo, to 
which the horse-cars run from the grand Plaza, horse-races 
are held in May, August, and November, at which times 
prizes are offered by the Government and the Sociedad 
Zootecnica. 

It was interesting to see how the State had occupied 
the buildings of the banished or suppressed communities. 
In the Franciscan convent was the Revenue and Cus- 
toms Bureau ; the Post-Of&ce occupied the church and 
convent of the Third Order (of St. Francis) ; the Treasury 
and Telegraphs divide the fine house formerly the home 
of the suppressed Sociedad Economica ; and the Bureau of 
Liquors and Tobacco holds the splendid building of the 
Dominican friars. Other of the confiscated edifices are 
used as schools, and are most admirably suited to the pur- 
pose. There are eight elementary schools for boys, and ten 
for girls ; two finishing schools or academies for each sex ; 
six night-schools for artisans and others; and two asylums, 
which collect in the morning the young children of poor 
parents, instruct and feed them, and return them at night 
to their homes. There are two establishments for second- 
ary instruction, one for each sex, directed by foreign pro- 
fessors and well installed ; one is the Institute Nacional, 
already mentioned. All these institutions are supported 



188 GUATEMALA. 

by the Government, much of the system being due to the 
enlightened policy of General Barrios. Provided for spe- 
cial instruction, and also supported in the same way, 
are the Technical School (Escuela de Artes y Oficios), well 
provided with laboratories and steam-power ; the Agricul- 
tural College, with fields near the city for practical work ; 
a Business School, with night sessions for clerks ; a Law 
School, Medical School (Medicina y Farmacia), Normal 
School, Polytechnic Institute, and School of Design ; 
besides many schools supported by private means. 

Benevolent institutions, too, are not wanting, — among 
them the Asylum for Orphans and Invalids ; the Central 
Hospital, where four hundred patients are cared for daily ; 
and the Military Hospital in the suburbs. The Peniten- 
tiary seems to be well conducted, and the House of Cor- 
rection has extensive workshops, in which good work is 
done. No less than twenty public fountains and washing- 
places adorn and keep the city clean. 

All business is not conducted in the shops, which are 
small, and seldom make much display ; but there are two 
markets, one of which, the Nacional, is very extensive, 
and seems to contain within its bounds merchandise of 
every sort, — in one place pottery, in another fruit ; 
saddlery and cloths, confectionery and hardware, bread 
and guns, are close at hand. The prices are high, even 
of the necessaries of life ; and the cheapest things were 
pottery and nets, both of Indian manufacture. It was 
not a little amusing to remember that the great retail 
stores of Boston were imitating the variety-shops of this 
micommercial city, and collecting within their walls all 
kinds of goods, — from shoes to hats, from dinner-sets 
to carpets, from stoves to books. The country variety- 



GUATEMALA CITY. 



189 



stores of New England are outdone in both cases. As 
almost everywhere else, it is expected that the purchaser 
will try to beat down the price. Among the curiosities 
of the market we found native jackets (guepiles) made in 
the simplest manner, but embroidered with the greatest 
labor and most barbaric fancy of color and form. These 
the women take great pride in ; and the showy garments 
cloak many deficiencies in the rest of the wardrobe. 




Indian Pot-fery. 



CHAPTER VII. 

GUATEMALA TO ESQUIPULAS. 

EARLY one morning Frank and I rode out of the city 
and np hill to an elevation of twelve hundred 
feet, passing the aqueduct and getting several fine views 
of the capital, — better in some respects than the view from 
the Cerro del Carmen ; for now the two volcanoes were 
clear. As the road was excellent, and our animals were 
in thorough trim, we both got more enjoyment in the 
saddle than from almost any other mode of sight-seeing. 
We were leaving the volcanoes of Antigua ; but Pacaya 
was before us, and we had entered a distinctly volcanic 

region. We passed 
several small vil- 
lages, in one of which 
"^'^^S^kTSy^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^'^ we breakfasted on 

honey and tortillas. 

Pacaya, Fuego, Agua. 

Cerro Redondo is a 
small hamlet of perhaps a thousand inhabitants, whose 
chief occupation is coffee-culture. The "round hill " which 
gives the name is a small, very regular volcanic cone, — 
one of a number less regular extending towards the Pacific 
Cvoast. Here in the road-cut were black volcanic sands 
and plenty of vesicular lava. As the daylight waned, we 
niel, men, women, and children coming from their day's 
work in the caf etal, and a contented, happy company they 




GUATEMALA TO ESQUIPULAS. 191 

were. We did not arrive at the chief town of the Depart- 
ment of Santa Rosa, Cuajinicuilapa, — or Cuilapa, as it is 
often abbreviated, — until nine o'clock. Here we found a 
wretched posada, where we shared our room with an enor- 
mous cockroach an inch wide and two and three quarter 
inches long. Although we had a letter to the Jefe from 
the Department of State, we did not care to wait in the 
morning for him to get up ; so after climbing into the 
church-tower and over the roof, we rode on to the fine 
old bridge over the Rio de los Esclavos. This, consisting 
of ten masonry arches spanning a rocky ravine, bears the 
dates 1592-1852. Our path followed the valley for some 
time, and at a convenient place we had a bath in the 
rapid river, whose waters were agreeably cool. As we 
left the river our path led up a very steep ascent 
nearly eighteen hundred feet. On the way we had sev- 
eral fine views of the " Hunapu " volcanoes, — Pacaya, 
Fuego, Agua, and Acatenango, — clustered together, and in 
the clear atmosphere 
seeming to be close at 
hand. Pacaya seemed 
to have the largest 
crater, while Agua 
had none visible from this side. On the top of this " lad- 
der" we rested our animals on a grassy plain where they 
could pasture. We had noticed cotton-trees (Bombax) on 
the way up, and we found some wild pines that the men 
repairing the road had left, and we tracked the fruit, 
which is pleasantly acid, to the pines used here for 
hedging {Bromelia Pinguin). The curious umbrella-ants 
{(Ecodoma) were common on the path, each carrying its 
bit of leaf wherewith to stock the formicarium. A puff 




Hunapu from the East. 



192 GUATEMALA. 

of the breath would overset these heavy sail-bearers, which 
go in Indian file. We had no time to follow them home 
on this occasion ; ^ for when we came to Azacualpa, still 
some eight leagues from Jutiapa, we found this large village 
(twelve hundred inhabitants) had no posada. Indeed, it 
had nothing but corn and beans, and even water was 
scarce ; so we pushed on into the night through an un- 
known country. After dark we could buy no maiz for our 
bestias, though a senora sold us a bottle of excellent honey. 
We had seen from the hill above, in the fading light, a 
magnificent valle}^ of great extent, broken by ridges and 
ravines, and we had hoped to find some decent shelter. 
But when the moon rose over a volcano, we decided to 
camp ; and picketing our steeds on a fine pasture, we 
slept on our blankets, undisturbed except by the wind, 
which was strong at times. Our barometer told us we 
were 3,152 feet above the sea. I noticed that in the 
highlands it was apt to be windy at night. 

In the morning our honey, a little bread, and some 
unripe oranges gave us a very unsubstantial meal ; never- 
theless at daybreak we saddled and rode on. We saw 
many pigeons, little gray quails that ran along the path, 
and crows. At La Paz we found a very neat house, 
where we stopped for almuerzo ; but alas for external 
signs ! my bowl of black-bean soup contained a patriarchal 
cockroach. It was pleasant to see through the open door 
our animals eating a good breakfast of sacaton. A little 
farther on was a clear stream ; but most of the way was 
over a dusty plain among espina hlancas- {Acacia) and 

^ See note on Zompopas in the Appendix. 

2 These acacias not only yield gum-arabic, but the pods contain so much 
tannin that they are used to make ink. 



GUATEMALA TO ESQUIPULAS. 193 

calabash-trees, lava streams and blocks. The surface of 
the ground was cracking open with dry shrinkage, and 
there was little to interest us. Our Yankee nature asserted 
itself, and we whittled at some of the little purple-spotted 
calabashes as we rode along. The rind is very hard, even 
in young fruit ; and the inside is solid and consistent as 
an unripe squash. The odd-looking, speckled blossoms 
spring from the trunk of the crabbed-looking tree (Cres- 
centia cujete). 

About noon we came to Jutiapa, situated on a plain 
through which the Rio Salado has cut a deep valley. 
"We entered by a gateway and found the Plaza. This 
was paved, and in the midst a dribbling fountain indicated 
a very insufficient water-supply for the town. Before us 
was the church, behind us the Casa Nacional, and the 
other sides were occupied by stores and the house of the 
Jefe. Our anxious inquiries for a posada were met with 
the too frequent answer that there was no such thing 
here in this town of some twelve hundred inhabitants. 
Good fortune directed us to inquire of a person in a shop 
at a corner just beyond the church ; and this resulted in 
a most hospitable invitation to the house of Senor Alonzo 
Rozales, a Spanish gentleman whose name will be always 
a charm to conjure by. He gave us a large room opening 
to the street as well as into the patio, and we at once felt 
at home. We had walked many miles, I leading, Frank 
driving, the poor tired animals. It was fifteen leagues 
from Cuilapa to Jutiapa, and the road was very hard and 
maiz very scarce. We were obliged to wait here for our 
mozos, whom we had sent from Guatemala but had not 
overtaken on the road ; and we were happy enough that 
the necessary delay came in so comfortable a place. Our 

13 



194 GUATEMALA. 

host brought us new mats for our bedsteads, and pillows 
trimmed with lace in Spanish style ; then, after killing a 
very large and crusty scorpion which had established him- 
self over the door, presented us with a bottle of Val de 
Pena, — a fine red wine from Spain, — and left us to our 
rest. 

Sunday morning came, but no signs of our mozos. The 
church was closed, as there was no resident padre ; we got 
in, however, while an attendant opened it to do some work 
on the bells. The roof was apparently arranged for a 
fortification. Within we saw the skull of an Indio (?) 
built into the stucco over the agua hendita, and a painting 
representing a padre offering the consecrated wafer to a 
kneeling ass, — apparently in the office of the communion, 
as the padre holds the chalice in his other hand. A 
figure in the background — perhaps the owner of the ass 
— has long mustachios, wears a turban, and holds up his 
hands in astonishment. No explanation of this curious 
subject could be obtained there ; and after rejecting Balaam 
and his ass, we concluded that this was the ass on which 
Christ rode to Jerusalem. As volcanoes are baptized 
into the Church, why not asses ? 

There was a worn-out, poverty-stricken appearance to 
the town ; not a cultivated plant to be seen, as all the 
vegetables and fruits are grown at some distance, in the 
more fertile mountain valleys. Some of the larger 
houses, indeed, have a few flowers in their patio ; but 
these are quite invisible from the street. No fruit was 
in the shops or for sale in the streets, and our animals 
were fed on squashes. Perhaps at the annual fair 
(November 15) this ancient town, which under the 
name of Xutiapan existed long before the Conquest, may 

f 



GUATEMALA TO ESQUIPULAS. 195 

assume a livelier appearance. Still anxious about our 
mozos, we walked back several miles on our road, though 
the high wind made travelling very disagreeable. At last, 
in the afternoon, Santiago arrived with the mozo we had 
hired in Guatemala ; and to our astonishment the latter 
brought with him his wife and little daughter. This was 
more of a caravan than we had bargained for, and I was 
puzzled ; but the w^oman seemed quiet and inoffensive, 
and the child, who could hardly walk, and was carried 
always on her mother's back, was a good little thinpi;, — 
indeed, the most reasonable child I ever saw. I acqui- 
esced in the arrangement the more readily because I saw 
that the woman was unwilling to have her husband go 
away so far from home that he might not return to her. 
He was a handsome, strong fellow, and proved well 
worth all the woman's care. 

On Monday we started our mozos and luggage at six in 
the morning, and left our kind host before seven. We 
were almost surrounded by small volcanic cones, but 
Suchitan was the only one we identified. This gave 
little signs of its fiery origin to unpractised eyes, for 
the lower slopes were covered with shrubs, and here 
and there a little house peeped out among the trees, 
while fields extended to the cloudy summit. So severe 
was the wind on the plain at the base of this volcano 
that our animals several times turned from the path to 
seek shelter. Three leagues out we passed Achuapa, and 
five leagues farther Horcones, — both small villages. 
Clematis grew over the bushes and softened the rough 
appearance of the calabash-trees and espina blancas, — 
almost the only vegetation on this dry and unpromising 
upland. We had frequently seen the ocean from our 



196 GUATEMALA. 

highway during the past few days, and now we saw the 
volcanoes of Salvador, one of which was smoking, which I 
supposed to be Izalco. Blocks of lava were scattered all 
over the plain, as if some bed of lava had been broken up 
and brought down in fragments by an avalanche. The 
stone was well suited for the manufacture of metatles, or 
tortilla-stones, and fragments were scattered all about, as 
well as several half -finished metatles, spoiled by an un- 
lucky blow. We could not find any one at work, and 
did not learn with what tools this rather difficult stone- 
cutting is accomplished. The honey of Suchitan is very 
good, perhaps made partly from acacia-flowers ; its flavor 
being not imlike that of the famous honey of Auvergne 
in France, — also, a region of extinct volcanoes. 

We arrived at Santa Catarina about three in the after- 
noon ; there, while our animals rested and fed in front of 
the cabildo, we bespoke a comida at a little cook-shop in 
the Plaza, and then explored the poor little church, which 
was dark, windowless, and wholly bespattered with bat- 
fllth, — pictures, crucifix and all. We beat a hasty 
retreat from this unseemly sanctuary ; and after a wash 
in the public fountain, returned to the cocina, where we 
were served with tortillas, fried eggs, plantains, frijoles, 
and coffee, — for wdiich we paid three reals, or thirty-seven 
and a half cents. As w^e left the town w^e passed a noisy 
trapichey or sugar-mill, consisting of three vertical wooden 
rollers turned by four oxen. It sounded very like one of 
the ancient cider-mills in New England. A good mill 
could make a fair percentage of sugar out of the crushed 
cane passing through these rollers. 

From the town we found a rather steep descent, and at 
the bottom a large river to ford, whose bed was full of 



GUATEMALA TO ESQUIPULAS. 197 

loose rocks, — making the passage very difficult. We 
had not gone two leagues from Santa Catarina before 
darkness came on, and we camped by the roadside. A 
cheery fire and our blankets made the camp very com- 
fortable, and the little child was quiet all night, — not 
civilized enough, Frank declared, to cry instead of sleep. 
The dew-fall was very heavy ; it is probably always 
so at this dry season. 

We were up at light, and sent the men to find water 
while we got the fire burning and made coffee. With 
honey and wheaten rolls we breakfasted well, — indeed, 
our out-door life in this good climate made us feel at 
peace with all men, and satisfied — nay, pleased — with 
everything that befell us. The morning was cloudy ; but 
we knew the clouds did not mean rain at this season, and 
we were in the saddle before the dew was quite dried from 
our blankets. As we went along we several times passed 
black obsidian chips, some recent, but most of them quite 
old, — evidently the refuse of the knife-makers, whose 
work in ancient times was much in demand ; the long, 
slim blades used in circumcision were never used but 
once, then consecrated in the temples or broken ; and 
those knives used for other purposes were of course brit- 
tle, and soon destroyed. 

We arrived at Agua Blanca about eight o'clock, and 
stopped to feed our bestias on cornstalks and squashes. 
The former were kept high up in the trees, which neither 
cows nor pigs could climb, while the squashes in endless 
variety nearly filled a small house, through whose bambu 
walls the wandering hogs could smell the coveted food. 
The town is appropriately named " White Water," for 
the only supply was very milky in appearance and very 



198 



GUATEMALA. 



clayey in taste. Almost directly over the town, the volcano 
of Monte Rico, long extinct, is the most striking feature in 
the landscape. Cultivated to the ver}^ edge of the crater, 
•which is said to contain a large lake, the fertility of the 

fields was greatest at the 
top, — due, no doubt, to 
the waters of the crater ; 
while the lower slopes are 
comparatively dry and bar- 
ren. Around the base are 
many smaller cones, which 
remind one of those which 
dot the slopes of vEtna and 
give the Sicilian volcano 
the name ^'Mother of 
Mountains." Not a league 
beyond we crossed the only 
clear stream we saw all 
day ; but even this water 
was not very pleasing to 
the taste. Bars across the 
road made us fear we had 
missed the path and were 
no longer in the " camino 
real; " we were, neverthe- 
less. At Piedras Gordas, 
in the afternoon, we stopped for food, in hopes of hearing 
tidings of our guide and mozos, who had started before us. 
Our frugal meal of plantains, tortillas, and red bananas 
was constantly interrupted by the pigs who were stealing 
the sacaton from our hungry animals. For miles there 
were booths and stone fireplaces marking the camps of the 




Mozo on the Road. 



GUATEMALA TO ESQUIPULAS. 199 

pilgrims who journey to the sacred Sanctuario de Esqiii- 
pulas. At six o'clock we camped in a fine pine-forest 
high up in the mountains. No human habitation was 
near, but a few cattle were seen here and there. The pas- 
turage was good between the scattered trees of this grand 
park. We built a roaring fire, which cast curious shadows 
from the trees, pegged our bestias securely, enjoyed 
a good lomilomi, or Hawaiian massage, and both fell 
asleep. Suddenly I awoke with the strong impression 
that something was wrong. There was no noise, not 
even the cry of a night-bird ; only the soft sough of the 
night-breezes in the pine-tops. Frank was breathing 
quietly at my side, the fire was out, and the night was 
cold outside the blankets. As I sat up to look about, a 
dark object caught my eye in the dim distance, and 
without much thought or reason I went towards it, 
simply because I felt impelled to do so. There was no 
consideration of personal danger, but an overpowering 
feeling that all was not as it should be. The first 
thought as I got near the black object, which seemed to 
move towards me, was amusing, — it looked like the 
devil ; there were the short, straight horns, the hoofs, 
and I saw the switch of a tail. It was very like a 
dream. I had seen the " father of lies " in many a 
human form, but never so undisguised ; and I was filled 
with curiosity. The next moment a joyful hinny dis- 
covered our mare Mabel, who recognized me before I 
could plainly see her. Putting my arm around her 
neck, I found the remnant of the horse-hair lariat with 
which Frank had fastened her. I tried to return to 
camp, more than an eighth of a mile away, but could 
not orient myself in the dark, and had to call to Frank. 



200 GUATEMALA. 

Guided by his answer, I retraced my steps, stumbling 
into a brook I had unconsciously crossed in going out ; 
and we found the peg and again secured Mabel. In this 
curious way we were saved a long hunt for the next 
day. 

At daylight we were on a very good road, and soon 
after eight we stopped at a sugar-plantation for some 
coffee and frijoles negras. Here was a fine stream, to- 
gether with vats formerly used for indigo-making, now 
useless. Hill rose above hill, and Esquipulas seemed as 
far away as ever. By the roadside were the pilgrim fire- 
places, frequent and extensive, and we noticed a large 
deposit of a pink-colored rock, which I supposed might 
contain manganese (Bhodonite). The specimens I brought 
away, I regret to say, were afterwards left at one of our 
camps. The last hill at length climbed, before us lay an 
extensive valley reaching to the distant mountains of 
Merendon, the boundary of Spanish Honduras. 




Lava Mask in the Museo Nacional. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 

I HAVE grouped in this chapter two most interesting 
monuments of the past, — a Christian temple whose 
mission seems to have been fulfilled, and a pagan grave- 
yard where stand the monuments of unknown kings or 
heroes. They are not inaptly joined ; for in this busy, 
matter-of-fact, commercial age, it is well that the less per- 
ishable records of our brothers who have preceded us in 
the unending march of life upon this globe should detain 
us, if but for a moment, with the lessons they may teach 
to thoughtful minds, — the temple raised by pious labor to 
signify that there is more than the present to live for, 
the ^monuments of the dead to carry on the personalities 
so soon lost in earthly life. 

We gazed from the precipice at the white building, 
large even on so vast a plain, and began the steep de- 
scent. The little village was almost dead in appearance. 
There were many houses and rooms to let, but no 
posada ; and as our mozos had not arrived, we rode 
to the Santuario down the single street of the town. It 
was wide, paved with cobbles, and bordered on either side 
by the booths and lodging-sheds for the merchants and 
devotees who still crowd the town at the festival season. 
Two streams, one the headwaters of the Rio Lempa, 
flowed across the road beneath solid masonry bridges. 



202 GUATEMALA. 

Into two of the posts of one of these were inserted two 
ancient sculptures, said to have been brought from Peten, 
but more probably from the neighboring ruins of Copan, 
just beyond the mountains. One was the grotesque head 
of a griffin, the other a small human figure with a pre- 
posterous head-dress. The- Santuario is an imposing 
structure, massive rather than elegant, and dazzling in its 
whiteness. Towers rise at the four corners, divided into 
four stages, of which the lower one is broken only by a 
small oval window on the side ; the second is pierced by 
an arched window and decorated with pilasters ; the 
third, still square, rises above the general roof with two 
windows on each side ; the fourth, octa.gonal in shape, 
has a single window on the alternate sides. A large 
dome rises in the midst, figures of saints and a clock 
mark the facade, and the whole structure rises from an 
extensive platform surrounded by an iron fence with 
masonry posts, and approached by a broad and easy flight 
of steps. 

On entering, the first thing noticed was the immanse 
thickness of the walls, ten or twelve feet at least, — a 
reminder that this is an earthquake country. The floor 
was paved with large red tiles, needing repairs in 
places. Among the pictures was one of the Last Supper, 
and near it a decidedly local one of people lassoing 
Christ. We had hardly glanced about, when a curious 
figure presented himself, speaking tolerable English very 
rapidly, and, after the usual interchange of compliments, 
introduced himself as Dr. Jos^ Fabregos y Pares, a trav- 
eller ; and then presented his companion, the handsome 
young cura, Padre Gabriel Davila, who welcomed us to 
his church and showed us the curiosities of the place. 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 203 

First, of course, we wanted to see the famous black 
Christ, " Our Lord of Esquipulas." This miraculous im- 
age, to whose shrine devout pilgrims have gathered even 
from distant Mexico and Panama, — pilgrims numbered 
in former years as many as fifty thousand at a single fes- 
tival, — was made in Guatemala City in 1594 hy Quirio 
Cataiio, a Portuguese, at the order of Bishop Cristobal de 
Morales, on the petition of the pueblo of Esquipulas. 
The sculptor was paid " cien tostones," — a testoon being 
of the value of four reals, or half a dollar ; and to meet 
this expense the Indios planted cotton on the very land 
where the sanctuary now stands. For more than a cen- 
tury and a half the image stood in the village church, 
where the miracles wrought spread its fame very far. 
The first archbishop of Guatemala, Pedro Pardo de 
Figueroa, laid the foundation of the present temple, 
which he did not live to finish, but died Feb. 2, 1751, 
praying with his last breath that his bones might rest 
at the feet of this image of his Lord. In 1759 Senor D. 
Alonso de Arcos y Moreno, President of the Real Audiencia 
of Guatemala, completed the great work, at a cost, it is said, 
of three million dollars ; and on January 6 of that year the 
image was translated with all the pomp of the Romish 
Church. Twelve days later, the remains of the pious arch- 
bishop followed. The founder established a brotherhood 
of worthy people who should take upon themselves the 
material support of the edifice ; but Padre Miguel Munoz, 
writing in 1827, says that this laudable custom had died 
out among the whites, only the Indios holding to the com- 
pact. Those of Totonicapan furnish a certain amount of 
wax and provide for some offices of the Church ; those 
of Mexico visit the shrine in Holy "Week with offerings 



204 GUATEMALA. 

of wax ; while from Salvador are brought wax, incense, 
balsam, oil, and brooms. 

Now, with all this we expected to see something re- 
markable, but saw only an ordinary altar-piece, with plain 
curtains before the miraculous image. It was not a holy- 
service time, consequently the curtains could not be raised ; 
the padre, however, after sending Frank's revolver out 
of the holy place, took us behind the altar and admitted us 
to a small glass room where the black image stands. It 
was much less than life size, very black, — painted, how- 
ever, only by time, — inferior in conception and execution, 
and wearing long female hair. Ex-voto pictures and gold 
and silver images and tokens hung upon and around this 
figure, and in the same chamber were figures of Joseph 
and Mary, together with angels with cotton-wool wings. 
It was impossible for me to feel any of the awe with which 
past generations of Indios have regarded this black Christ. 
My imagination is not wholly dulled, and I have felt 
curious sensations before the horrible idols of the Pacific 
islanders, before the placid features of a gigantic Buddha, 
in the Hall of Gods at Canton, and before the Jove of 
the Vatican. I have been in the holy places of many 
nations, and have felt a^ sympathy with the worship- 
pers ; even the black cliffs of the supposed Sinai have led 
my thoughts captive. But here in Esquipulas there was 
nothing but the husk, — nothing solemn, nothing hol}^ ; 
the portrait of Figueroa was the most respectable thing 
in the church. It was, moreover, no strange thing to pass 
into the vestry and overhaul the boxes of gold and silver 
ex-votos ; these we could purchase at so much an ounce. 
They were indeed, as our new friend Dr. Jose declared, 
" very curibus." All parts of the human body, healthy 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 205 

or diseased, many animals, and other objects of human 
desire or sohcitude, were to be fomid here. To our matter- 
of-fact Northerners it may be necessary to explain the 
theory and object of these works of native j)^citerias. 
Medical men and surgeons are almost unknown in the 
remote regions of Central America, and a sick or injured 
man, while applying all known remedies, sends also to 
the nearest platero, or silversmith (common enough 
among the aborigines), and has a model of the affected 
part made ; this token some friend, if the patient be un- 
able to make the journey himself, carries to the mysterious 
iip.age, whose power to heal he devoutly believes in. It 
is a faith, rather than a mind, cure. The barren woman 
in the northern climes, instead of being bowed down with 
her sad lot, obtains an easy consolation in a pug or lap- 
dog ; but her Indian sister takes a truer view of the pur- 
pose of her life, and in her prayerful longing devotes in 
effigy the coveted offspring, — much as Hannah, the wife 
of Elkanah, devoted the unbegotten Samuel to the Lord. 
Like the Hebrew barren wife, the Indian goes up on a 
pilgrimage to the most sacred shrine, makes her offering, 
and breathes her prayer. The Eli of the Sanctuary bids 
her " go in peace." 

The accumulated offerings of gold and silver images 
are sold to pay the charges of the Templo, — not always, 
however ; for report has it that the Government some 
years ago seized fifty thousand dollars' worth of this 
treasure and appropriated it to its own use. 

Dr. Jos^ invited us to share his room, which we gladly 
did. He had just returned from Honduras, and was on 
his way to an Indian city in Guatemala where was buried, 
to his certain information, an immense treasure of the 



206 GUATEMALA. 

ancient kings. I will not tell my readers the exact 
locality, though I fear Don Jose will find no treasures 
greater than the beautiful opals he brought from bej'ond 
the Merendon Mountains. As we left the Templo I 
bought oranges of a little girl, giving her the price she 
asked, — ten for a cuartillo (three cents) ; and I almost 
believed in the miracle-working image when the girl 
brought me three more oranges ! I ought to have in- 
sisted on having twenty for a cuartillo. Very late in 
the afternoon the mozos arrived, having been lost in the 
Cerros, where we strangers had found a plain path with- 
out guides. There was not enough daylight left to give 
us a photograph of the image, but we got the white 
Santuario. Even at the present day the annual festival, 
extending from the sixth to the ninth of January, brings 
together many people, — but perhaps quite as much for 
trade as for worship. 

As we rode out of the town in the morning we passed 
men repairing the aqueduct, — which reminds me that 
the water in Esquipulas is very bad. We climbed an 
unbroken hill eighteen hundred feet to an altitude of 
forty-six hundred, glancing back for a last look at the 
great white temple, monarch of the plain. As we crossed 
the divide, we had a fine view of Quezaltepeque, with 
Monte Rico and Suchitan looking in the distance much 
more volcanic than when we passed them on the road. 
Hard as the ascent was, the descent was even worse ; 
twenty-one hundred feet of exceedingly bad road delayed 
us greatly, and it was long after noon when we arrived at 
Quezaltepeque. There was not much to see here. In 
the dirty church I noticed a picture of the " Virgen 
de Lourdes," and a contribution-box for offerino-s to that 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 



207 




Incense-burner. 



modern shrine ; and Frank found a very curious incense- 
burner, which certainly did not give evidence that the 
second command- 
ment had been 
broken. As we 
stayed only an 
hour for our al- 
muerzo and comida 
combined, we did 
not see much be- 
sides the Plaza and 
the main street ; 
we followed the 
latter out of the 

town, fording a stream of some size, with gravelly bed 
and bordered with fruit-trees. 

We were now in the picturesque valley of the Hondo, 
— a winding, clear, and generally rapid stream -, our path 
sometimes crossed it, and again was high above it on the 
cliffs. We passed through San Jacinto about dusk and 
camped a few miles beyond, having to go a long way 
after dark, as both sides of the road were fenced, — 
a most unusual thing. We at last stopped at a very 
unsuitable place, kindled a fire which guided Santiago 
to our camp, and then decided to have our mozo and 
his family with us for an early start in the morning. 
Frank took his revolver and went back nearly two miles, 
where he found the Indio sound asleep in a house. Father, 
mother, and child were quickly routed out, and when 
they came up we comforted them with some hot coffee. 
Towards morning it rained, but not through our blankets ; 
and before the morning mist had risen quite above the 



208 ' GUf4,EMALA. 

liills around us, I had my camera at work. The daylight 
showed what a queer bedchamber we had chosen. Acacia- 
brambles were thick enough, and there was no level 
ground ; while behind us was a high limestone cliff closely 
resembling a columnar basaltic formation, and just across 
the road a precipitous descent to the river. We sent the 
mozos on at six o'clock, and raibw^ sooW::>aii'er^. NAt 
Santa Elena we saw many fan-palms, cultivate as mate- 
rial for hats. At Vado Hondo we could resist the temp- 
ting river no longer, but had a delightful swim in the 
clear, cool water. All the valley was beautiful, and gen- 
erally cultivated, — here with sugar, there with corn, 
and we saw several small sugar-mills. 

As we approached the lower valley the sun broke 
through the clouds and was very hot ; but when we came 
to the wide gravel bed of the sometimes broad river above 
which Chiquimula stands, the heat was most unbearable. 
On a plateau to the right stood the ruins of an immense 
church, while far away to the left stretched a fertile 
valley. We rode up hill into the town at eleven o'clock, 
and, as usual, found no posada. We did, however, find 
good food and a very comfortable room at the large mer- 
cantile house of Senora Anacleta Nufio de Monasterio (this 
was the mark on her china). The house was large, and 
in the patio were orange-trees and a fountain of good 
water. The important matter of lodgings settled, we 
went to church, finding it out of repair and dingy. To 
put ourselves in thorough moral order, I decided to offer 
here at this ecclesiastical centre two tallow candles, — 
a penance we wished to perform at Quezaltepeque, but 
could find no candles for sale near at hand. I placed 
the candles, lighted, in silver candlesticks, which were 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 209 

empty on the grand altar, and sat down on the doorstep 
to see what would happen. Soon an attendant came and 
asked if I had offered the candles ; and on being assured 
that I had, exclaimed " Buen ! " in a very satisfied tone ; 
nevertheless he took the poor candles from their place of 
honor and put them before an empty saint-case. Well, 
the saints above were perhaps as well satisfied ; but 
Frank here below was rather indignant, and declared he 
would never offer a candle again. But what else could 
we expect for making light of the candles ? 

We called on the Jefe, Don Ezequel Palma, a military 
man past middle age, who was very polite and who sent 
his private secretary. Dr. Domingo Estrada, to show us the 
lions of Chiquimula. We rode first to the ruins of the 
ancient town where we had seen the remains of the church 
in the morning. The same earthquake that in 1773 
destroyed Antigua shattered this town and caused the 
removal of the inhabitants some distance to the west- 
ward. The old site was a better one ; but the people 
moved away to save the trouble of clearing up the ruins. 
The church was two hundred and fifty feet long, and 
seventy-five wide. The immense walls, ten feet thick, 
were still standing; but the vaulted roof blocked the in- 
terior with its fragments. The ruins of this once holy 
place were now used as a cemetery, the rank in this 
world of the occupier determining the distance of each 
grave from the altar-end ; while outside were the neg- 
lected ashes of the commoners. The brambles and thorny 
plants made the locality unpleasant for living beings, and 
we got our horses away as soon as possible. 

We passed the new hospital, which Dr. Estrada showed 
us with pride; it will be, if ever completed, the best 

u 



210 GUATEMALA. 

in Guatemala. A visit to a sugar-estate in the valley 
showed us fields of red cane, small, but very sweet. 
There were two small mills, both made in Buffalo, N. Y., 
— one turned by wind, the other by oxen ; and the 
product is about nine hundred pounds of brown sugar 
a day. 

At five the next morning we were serenaded by the 
military band of the town, — an honor we had received 
several times before ; and the music was very good. 
We left the ancient town of Chiquimula at eight o'clock, 
although our hostess, Senora Anacleta, wished us to stay 
and join an expedition of her friends to Copan to exam- 
ine " las ruinas," — an excursion we longed to make, but 
could not then. 

The road to Zacapa was good, and we saw many 
gigantic cylindrical cacti. These curious trees looked 
pulpy and fragile ; but Frank tried a branch with 
his raw-hide lasso, and the horse could not pull it 
off ! We shall never again lasso a prickly cactus. On 
trees by the road (chiefly euphorbiaceous trees) were 
large nests, eighteen to twenty inches long, of some 
mud-wasp. As we approached Zacapa we crossed the 
Hondo by a ford where the water was not two feet 
deep ; but the path was very long and winding, and the 
current rapid. As usual, there was no posada ; but a call 
on the Jefe, Don Brigido Castaueda, resulted in a page 
being sent to conduct us to the decent house of a widow, 
where we found lodging and comida. Our first search 
was for a blacksmith, our animals needing re-shoeing. 
There were three lierreras in the town ; but one was sick, 
another had no charcoal, while the third had no nails, — 
and there was no lendino; among these sons of Thor. So 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 211 

Frank had to do the work himself with hammer and axe ; 
and his general handiness again stood us in stead. There 
was little enough to attract us in this town, and early 
the next morning (Sunday) we sent the mozos ahead and 
followed before the weekly drill of the militia was fin- 
ished. In Zacapa the Government has a large tobacco- 
factory ; and the '' Zacapa puros " are much liked by 
smokers. 

All the way out of town the fields were dry, although 
we passed several small streams, and beyond San Pablo a 
grove of fan-palms watered by a fine brook. No fruit 
was anywhere to be seen, not even on the great cacti. 
The Motagua River we had looked for at every turn, and 
at last we came upon a stream so rapid that it does not 
even water its dry banks. A swim was out of the ques- 
tion, but our bath was very refreshing. 

At Zacapa we left the volcanic region ; and afterwards 
we saw no more lava or tufa, but a formation resembling 
old red sandstone, mica schist, slates, milk-quartz, and 
some serpentine. We were then in the metamorphic 
mountain-belt. The shapes of the hills of course changed 
with their geological nature, and we missed the beautiful 
cones that had formed a characteristic of our daily land- 
scape since we had our first glimpse of Tajumulco from 
the Chixoy valley many weeks before. 

On this road we saw the Palo Cortez, — one of the 
most splendid flowering-trees I ever saw. It was large, 
leafless, and covered with dark-pink flowers. Never in 
large numbers, it brightened the dark forests with its 
mass of rich color, and as many as five or six would be 
in sight at once. Surely we could have made a cal- 
endar marked by some remarkable plant each day ; and 



212 GUATEMALA. 

this Sunday was a red-letter day, marked by this tree 
named in honor of the great Conquistador. A fine arbo- 
rescent composite, with dark-orange blossoms of the size 
and shape of thistles, closely recalled the Hesperomannia 
that my dear friend Horace Mann (the younger) discov- 
ered during our explorations in the Hawaiian Islands, 
twenty years before. 

In the afternoon we passed the rancho of Don Caye- 
tano, where we saw good cattle, but did not stop until 
some distance beyond, when we boiled our coffee by the 
roadside and I photographed our travelling arrangements. 
Although we arrived at Gualan at half-past five, we had 
more than the usual trouble in finding a lodging ; but at 
last a deaf old man, who was also burdened with a large 
goitre, took us into his comfortable house of two rooms, 
while Santiago, who professed to be familiar with the 
p)lace, took our animals in charge. The town was insig- 
nificant and decayed, although on the main road from 
Guatemala City to the coast. After a supper of the 
toughest meat we had found in this republic, our host 
gave us his daughter's room ; and while Frank attempted 
to make the little bed comfortable, I slung my hammock 
from the dusty rafters. The daughter, about sixteen, was 
rather pretty, and we were sorry to incommode her; but 
she turned in with the old man, and we could hear that 
they were both asleep long before we got used to the 
squeaking noise of a lizard in the thatch and to the 
showers of dust every motion of my hammock shook 
down from above. 

We were at the head of navigation on the Motagua, 
and decided to send our mozos on to Los Amates by land, 
while we took a canoa. Santiago had promised us one in 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 213 

the morning, but could not find it ; whereupon Frank 
found a boatman, and reduced his price from $4.00 to 
$2.50. Just as we were returning to the house to get our 
luggage, we met our useless Santiago with a man who 
had kindly consented, as an especial favor to him, to 
take us for $6.00. In going to the river we passed the 
Calvario, which was elaborately walled ; but the roots of 
many shrubs were prying the masonry open. A descent 
of about two hundred feet brought us to the river bank, 
and we found the water cool and good. 

Our canoa was a good " dugout," with a mat of split 
bambu for our seat, and our boatman managed it very 
skilfully, avoiding the frequent shoals and taking full 
advantage of the current. Bathers and washerwomen 
were common along the banks, — the latter with precious 
little clothing, but usually working under a palm-leaf 
shelter. Often they did not hear the paddle, so noisy 
were their tongues, until we were close upon them ; and 
they generally ducked when they saw us. White herons, 
alligators, and iguanas were common enough, and we 
saw two very round turtles about a foot in diameter. 
Twice we touched bottom in the rapids ; but the skill of 
the paddler kept us bows on and saved us a wetting. 

At Barbasco the river was wide, and we saw three 
mules crossing, as our bestias would have to do later in the 
day. They waded two thirds of the distance and swam 
the rest, one being carried by the current into the bushes 
down stream.-^ The exhilarating motion was in marked 
contrast to our struggle up the Rio Polochic ; but there 
was no such interest in the valley of the Rio Motagua 

^ Another time when Frank was crossing he had to swim for his life, and 
nearly lost his animals. 



214 GUATEMALA. 

as in that of the Polochic, and not until we approached 
Los Amates did we come to the forest. In many places 
banana or plantain suckers had got entangled in the 
bushes overhanging the banks or on shoals, and were 
rooting and growing. The river is about a hundred 
yards wide at Los Amates, where we landed after a canoa 
voyage of five hours and a half. The steep bank was 
muddy, and the whole town likewise, as far as we could 
see. Four open-walled reed huts shelter all the inhabi- 
tants, both man and beast. The view riverwards was 
attractive, as the river seemed the only way out of this 
forest-environed spot. We walked into the woods on the 
trail northward to El Mico, about three quarters of a 
league ; here the ground was utterly water-soaked, and 
we saw nothing interesting except two humming-birds 
having a bitter duel. They were so absorbed in their 
deadly hatred that we stood some minutes within arm's 
length without interrupting them. Near the houses the 
manaca-palms overspread the path in most perfect Gothic 
arches, forming groined vaults of living green. Our 
comida was tolerable ; but flies and mosquitoes were 
abundant, so were dogs and pigs, and there were 
many chickens with their wings turned inside out and 
their feathers put on the wrong way. We could throw 
stones at the dogs without attracting notice ; but I 
found the people evidently did not like to have the 
pigs insulted. 

Our senora was a curious specimen, all skin and bones, 
clad in a scant dress, a large straw hat, and apparently 
nothing else, and smoking an ever-burning cigar. At 
night she put us on a shelf of slim bambus that would 
not bear our weight standing, though they made a fairly 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 215 

comfortable bed. We shared this loft with corn and 
poultry; and looking down into the common room be- 
neath us, we saw by the light of a bowl of oil strange 
domestic scenes. Women were swinging in hammocks 
and smoking cigars, and children lying naked on the bare 
earth floor ; and it was pleasant to see such at-one-ness 
and the utter absence of anything like bashfulness. 

Our calendar alone informed us that the next day was 
Christmas, and we spent it in waiting for our mozos and 
bestias, who arrived about three o'clock. We sat on the 
sheet-iron pipes, fifteen inches in diameter, which were 
resting here on their way to the Friedmann mines, farther 
south. They kept us out of the mud, and were the only 
comfortable seats in the town. On the mango and orange 
trees we found a pretty little yellow orchid {Oncidium^). 
In the houses we saw tanning done, without a vat, by 
making a bag of the hide and filling it with the bark 
decoction, which slowly percolated through and was re- 
placed. The remains of an English steam-launch were 
scattered about, sheets of copper from her bottom serv- 
ing as clapboards to part of the house where we lodged. 
At night the men of the place were all drunk and very 
noisy. The fires were kept burning late, and cast weird 
gleams through the open slat walls into the darkness. 

Having engaged a guide for the so-called Ruinas at 
Quirigua, at eight o'clock the next morning we said our 
adios (after paying our hostess nineteen reals for our- 
selves and mozos) and started down the river bank. 
Across the river were the largest bambus we had seen in 
the country, some joints at least six inches in diameter. 
Our path led through a canebrake, and often so close on 
the loose banks of the Motagua that I feared we should 



216 GUATEMALA. 

drop in. For two hours we went on in this way, stopping 
only to rifle a turtle's nest of fourteen small eggs (less in 
size than a pullet's). We then turned to the left and 
came to the Quirigua river, — which more resembled a 
creek ; and here my heart sank, for I have a great dread 
of black waters and muddy bottoms. Santiago waded in 
first, and I followed close on the little mule ; and we all 
crossed safely, our mozo leading his wife by the hand 
with great care. Once in the thick forest, our guide did 
his best to empty a generous bottle of aguardiente he 
had brought with him ; so that within an hour he knew 
very little about the road, or anything else useful. Cohune 
and similar palms were on all sides, and we first saw 
here the pacaya {Euterpe edulis ?), — a slender palm with 
edible pods or buds. Enormous trees with buttresses — 
even the goyava took this form here — were prominent 
among the lower palms, and ginger and wild bananas 
bordered the rather indefinite path, which we had con- 
stantly to clear of vejucos and fallen palm-leaves. Many 
round holes, as large as a flour-barrel, showed where 
palm-stumps had been eaten out by insects. 

A little brook with chalybeate waters cost us both a 
, wetting ; for Frank's mare stuck in a mud-hole, and my 
mule slid down a steep bank backwards into the water, 
soaking my saddlebags. After travelling three hours on 
this muddy road, we came to a clearing, where were two 
large champas fast going to ruin. Mr. A. P. Maudslay, 
an Englishman who has spent much labor and money in 
exploring Guatemaltecan antiquities, had been here twice, 
and not only cleared a considerable space around the 
principal monuments, but had cleaned the stones, and 
even made moulds in plaster of some of them; he had 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 



217 



also built the champas that sheltered us. We spread 
our wet things over a fire, and went to the first monu- 
ment (A on the plan), which was close at hand. Mr. 
Catherwood's sketches, published in Stephens's most in- 
teresting Travels, led us 
to expect rough menhirs 
quite analogous to the 
Standing Stones of Sten- 
nis, or those better 
known of Stonehenge. 
Here, rising from a pool 
of water collected in the 
excavation Mr. Mauds- 
lay had made to exam- 
ine the foundation, was 
a monolith of light-col- 
ored, coarse-grained 
sandstone, well carved 
over its entire surface 
except top and bottom. 
On the front and back 
were full-length human 
figures, not deities, but 
attempted likenesses, 
joined with the tigre's 
head to indicate chief- 
tainship, and a skull to represent death. Both sides 
were covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions quite dis- 
tinct, but not intelligible to any living being. (See 
Frontispiece.) What would I have given to be per- 
mitted to read the stone-cut story ! No locked chamber 
ever inspired half the curiosity. When was this stone 




Remains at Quirigua. 



218 GUATEMALA. 

set up, by whom, and to what purpose ? Whose are the 
portraits, when did these persons live, and what did they 
do for their fellows. The mocking answer to all these 
questions is cut in the stone before us. The native name 
of idolos is an idle one, unless used in the Greek sense ; 
for these are no gods, but memorials of the dead as 
distinctly as the tombstones in our modern graveyards. 
While the hieroglyphs are similar to those at Copan 
and Palenque, they are not, I think, identical, and I fancy 
they are of the nature of the denominative cartouches 
of the Egyptian obelisks. I copy Mr. Maudslay's plan 
of this group of monuments, from which it will at once 
be seen that their relative position to the other remains 
is puzzling in the extreme. We left our imaginings 
for the time, and proceeded to the practical work of 
photography. This was no light task ; for the sun was 
behind trees which cast shadows on the monuments, 
while the shady side was almost invisible in the camera. 
Insects swarmed in front of the lens, and the heat was 
almost insupportable under the rubber focusing-cloth. 
However, I succeeded fairly in carrying away a dozen pic- 
tures. Whether I can with no greater difficulty explain to 
my readers what this cemetery looked like, even with the 
aid of Mr. Maudslay's rough plan, is more questionable. 

We entered a clearing, some four hundred feet square, 
made only the year before, but already covered with 
undergrowth, so that our men had to use their machetes 
freely to expose the stones. The level was low and the 
soil full of water, which stood in pools here and there. 
On our left was a mound, more than two hundred feet 
long, which we did not inspect, and in front of this' were 
placed three monoliths. The first (A) was the smallest ; 







J^SC^cZ*t-C4^ 



MONOLITH AT QUIRIGUA, E. 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 



219 



the second (B) was four feet wide, three feet deep, and 
perhaps sixteen feet high; the third (C) was four feet 
nine inches wide, two feet nine inches deep, and eighteen 
feet high. , Both B and C stood on irregular ends, and the 
tops of all were left much as they came from the quarry. 
Two taller ones stood on the opposite side of the clearing. 




Monolith at Quirigua, F. 

One (F) was inclined (as it was to a much less extent 
when Mr. Gather wood made his drawing, forty years ago), 
and the under side has been protected from the weather, 
so that the face is well preserved, the large nose being 
intact. This face, unlike the one on the opposite side, is 
below the general level of the sculptures, suggesting a 



220 GUATEMALA. 

substitution of the present portrait for the original one. 
The inclination is about thirty-six degrees from the ver- 
tical ; and as the stone is about twenty-five feet above 
ground, it must be wedged with large foundation-stones, 
or be buried deep in the soft earth. 

Of all the portraits cut upon these stones, this leaning 
monolith has the most remarkable. The hands and feet 
are represented in the same conventional manner as on 
the stone marked E ; but the immense size of the nose, as 
well as of the ears, distinguishes it from all others. The 
cast of countenance is very Egyptian. On many of these 
sculptures are seen indications of the worship of the cross 
(as in the figure on the reverse of E), although this sym- 
bol is usually of complicated form, as on the celebrated 
tablet at Palenque. The monolith B has on the breast, in 
place of the cross, the double triangle, sometimes called 
Solomon's Seal, and, like the cross, a well-known symbol 
of primitive worship. The nose of the figure on what is 
now the upper side of F, is broken, but was of large size 
originally. 

There were several curious features in the decorative 
or symbolic work on the monument marked E on the 
plan. The plumes above the head are very extensive, 
and there are two distinct heads of the tigre, superim- 
posed with two well-modelled hands extending from the 
union. The face is much injured. The ears are enor- 
mous, and beneath the chin is a projection reminding one 
of the " beard-case " of the ancient Egyptians. One arm, 
with ruffled sleeve, holds an instrument much like a 
" jumping-jack," or else a human body impaled, while the 
other is concealed beneath a richly ornamented target. 
The feet are turned out, and on them rest what closely 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 



221 



resemble felt hats with plumes, while the pedestal (part 
of the one stone) on which the figure stands, bears the 
death's-head surmounted by a small head with the re- 
markable ears of the chief figure. On the reverse the 
features of the figure are 
better preserved. A dia- 
dem is distinct under a 
large and very realistic 
jaguar-head, the ears are 
covered by strap-like or- 
naments, the sandals 
elaborately wrought, and 
the hat-like ornaments 
much more distinct than 
on the other side. The 
costume is more elabo- 
rate, although not cut 
in so high relief. 

Two large bowlder- 
like masses (D and G) 
of the same stone are 
placed unsymmetrically 
in relation to the other 
monoliths, and rest on separate cross-stones. They are 
carved all over with figures and inscriptions, G being 
fashioned at one end into the head and claws of some mon- 
ster. A decidedly Aryan head, with mustache and flow- 
ing beard, is carved in high relief on the other. ^ If these 

^ Although, on the stone, and in the photograph as well, this head has the 
appearance noted in the text, a more careful examination of the photographic 
image magnified shows that the upper portion of the seemingly human face is 
in truth that of a tigre, while the flowing beard is the remaining part of a 
mutilated human face. 




Monolith E (back). 



222 GUATEMALA. 

were altars, they must have been very inconvenient ones, 
as they are about five feet high, and very little of the 
upper surface is level. We did not visit the other por- 
tions «of the cemetery as shown on the plan, because we 
did not at the time know of their existence, our guide 
being still under the malign influence of the bottle. 

We boiled our turtle's eggs (these, by the way, no boil- 
ing ever hardens), drank coffee and limonade, and ate 
sardines among these Maya relics, and then departed, 
after an interesting visit of only three hours. The heat 
and the swarms of insects by day gave us no encourage- 
ment to pass the night there, though we could not leave 
without a hope that we might return, and perhaps dig 
about the stones. Although visitors do not often get to 
these monuments, some have left the proofs of their low 
sense of propriety in inscriptions scratched on the stone. 
Truly the Indios who wander through this cemetery 
and call the figures idolos are more civilized than those 
fellows who have desecrated the stones by their otherwise 
unimportant names. 

Our way out was a return for two miles, and then 
branched into another path, where the marks of the 
railway surveyors were plainly visible, and it seems that 
the Ferro-carril del Norte will come close to the Ruinas 
of Quirigua. As we left the lowlands we came upon 
ledges of sandstone perhaps a mile from the Ruinas, of 
the same kind used for the monoliths ; but we could not 
find, perhaps owing to the dense vegetation, any signs of 
quarry work. In the path we saw fragments of pottery 
apparently ancient ; and there are no modern habitations 
near at hand. As the path wound up the hill we crossed 
a sandstone ridge and had fine views over the valley of 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 223 

the Motagua. It was pleasant to get among the pines 
again, and on solid dry ground : I think I dread mnd 
more than any other impediment in the road. When we 
struck the " camino real " late in the afternoon, Santiago 
went to the little village of Quirigua to get the traps he 
had left there, while Frank and I went on to the hacienda 
of Senor Rascon, late Jefe of Izabal, whom we had met in 
the office of Secretario Sanchez in the City of Guatemala. 
This hacienda was a mud-house with poor accommoda- 
tions and little food ; but as it cost us only two reals, we 
had no reason to grumble. The old senora in charge had 
only one egg ; but overcome by Frank's plaintive appeal, 
she scrambled under the bed where the hens were roost- 
ing, and managed to coax another from one of them. 
We were here entertained by the process of branding 
cattle, — not an attractive exhibition of brute force and 
brute suffering. 

We were in the saddle at seven, expecting a hard 
day's journey. The road was bad enough, muddy even 
when steep. In places it was paved ; but this was worse 
still. The flowers were interesting, and the splendid 
butterflies were flitting all the way. A fine passion- 
flower which Frank gathered for me, and a cypress-vine 
[IpomcBa), were among the old friends in a new place. 
Several trains of pack-mules on their way to Guatemala 
City passed us, and we had to use care to avoid being 
bruised by their loads, which they did not hesitate to 
push into us if not driven aside. As Mabel had cast a 
shoe, Frank walked almost all the way, using the mare 
occasionally as a bridge when the stream to be forded was 
wide. As we came out on the northern slope of El Mico 
we had an attractive view of the Lago de Izabal, and later 



224 GUATEMALA. 

of the town itself, where we arrived early in the afternoon, 
finding quarters in the posada of Senora Juana, an ancient 
mulattress. Her house, at the extreme east end of the 
town, was large and ruinous ; but we had a comfortable 
and cool room and a very decent comida. In the garden 
the senora had roses, gardenias, caladiums, hibiscus, and 
the Mexican vine [Antigonon leptopus). The town, with 
its white houses, low level, and ditched streets, reminded 
us of Belize ; but while the capital of British Honduras is 
alive, Izabal is dead. On the hill westward was a fort, 
with lighthouse and town-bell. At 5 and 6 a.m., and 
at 6, 8, and 9 p.m., the fort made a noise. The wharf 
at the custom-house was long, but had only two feet 
of water, so shallow is the lake at this side. The shore 
was sandy, and the water clear. The principal streets 
are lighted by gaz (kerosene) ; and as the ditches on 
either side are worse than the gutters in New Orleans, 
this is a necessary precaution. 

In the photograph of Izabal, taken from the end of the 
dilapidated wharf, the fort is seen on the hill above the 
large warehouse ; at the right is the cluster of buildings 
belonging to Mr. Potts, — a gentleman who has a fine 
collection of native orchids in his garden, the only one 
in all the republic who seemed to take much interest 
in horticulture. The church is just behind this dwelling, 
and on the hill at the extreme rio-ht of the view is the 

o 

Campo Santo. In the foreground the corroded piles 
show well the action of wood-destroying animals in the 
tropical fresh waters. 

We saw also in Izabal a very interesting collection of 
antiquities from the mines of Las Quebradas, on the 
Motagua. There were clay heads of curious workman- 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 



225 



ship, .obsidian and flint knives, arrow and spear heads ; 
but what attracted me most were three small whistles of 
terra-cotta. They represented human figures in a squat- 
ting position, all with maxtlis, or waist-cloths, about the 
loins, and a coif, or turban, on the heads. One little fat 
fellow reminded me of the Chinese roly-poly mandarins, 
and was of light-colored clay. Another, who also had a 
paunch of generous proportions, presented the profile of 
an Egyptian sphinx. But the third, which was four and 




a quarter inches high and of a dark bronze color, bore 
a close resemblance to a North American Indian. The 
figure had earrings precisely like those copper ones that 
Professor Putnam discovered in the Ohio mounds. This 
whistle could be made to sound three notes, the mouth- 
piece being at the posterior base. I tried to buy these 
interesting relics, which were found buried at a consider- 
able depth, but the owner would not part with them ; 
and as the whole collection is kept in a basket and often 

15 



226 GUATEMALA. 

handled, I suppose the photographs I took will soon be 
all that, is left of them. Clay whistles modelled in 
grotesque form, which also sound three notes, may be 
found to-day in the plazas for sale ; but the material and 
workmanship of these ancient terra-cottas surpasses any 
of the work of modern Indios. 

During the night we were awakened by the noise of 
the surf on the beach ; but when I went out on the 
piazza there was no wind. Before morning the " City of 
Belize" — the very steamer that had nearly finished our 
journey in the Rio Polochic — arrived from Pansos. At 
daybreak I found that the bats had ruined my raw-hide 
lasso, the reins of my bridle, and had eaten the seeds of 
some toranjas, or shaddocks, which we had carefully 
saved for planting. We hung all these articles from the 
ceiling to avoid rats or cockroaches. 

Frank and Santiago had no end of difficulty in getting 
our animals on board the steamer; but it was done at 
last, as everything else that Frank attempted, and just 
before noon we started, after an excellent breakfast on 
board, in which Senor Gomez, the newly appointed Jefe 
politico, joined us. "We were now back to the land of 
rains ; and as we steamed across the lake to Santa Cruz 
we had a tropical downpour. As the steamer was out of 
fuel, we coasted the lake to a place about a league above 
Castillo de San Felipe, where, after getting some three 
cords of wood on board, we tied to the trees for the 
night. At daybreak we took on more wood, and then 
went on to the old fort, where the comandante had some 
wood to sell, and used his authority to press the soldiers 
and bystanders to load it. As it was Sunday there were 
plenty of loafers around ; but one dandy who had on a 



ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 227 

clean shirt would not work, and another fellow had a 
stomach-ache and could not ; but the military authority 
was respected, and the wood soon loaded. The pilot- 
house was a fine, roomy place on the upper deck, and our 
comfort was in marked contrast to the experience of the 
canoa-voyage up, some months before. Islands and la- 
goons succeeded each other rapidly, and we soon crossed 
the Golfete and were in the beautiful Rio Dulce. At 
three in the afternoon we arrived at the wharf in Living- 
ston, and our pleasant journey was at an end. 




Whistle from Las Quebradas. 



CHAPTER IX. 



IN THE OLDEX TIME. 



THE physical features of Central America are rich and 
varied ; but the story of the races which have peo- 
pled it is tinged with a romance and clouded with a 
mystery which accord intimately with the cloud-capped 
summits, the impenetrable forests, and the earth-fires. 
Stories written in stone, whose authors no man knows, 
whose meaning none can read, carry us back beyond his- 
tory and beyond legend ; and until patient study unravels 
the enigma, as it must in time, our vision of the aborigi- 
nes is illumined only by those legends which beautify 
and corrupt all history. We may treat all legendary lore 
as mythic if we are willing to forget that a myth is the 
creation of an advanced thought and civilization which 
we do not usually concede to the long-perished races who 
have preceded us ; or we may simply accept what has 
been preserved for us, smile at its sunplicity, wonder at 
its beauty, or puzzle our brains to connect and classify it 
with similar matter from other sources and of other 
times. In an uncontroversial spirit I would accept the 
slight glimpses of early human races which have lived 
upon this continent, and leave to others the task, agree- 
able to their tastes, of weighing, measuring, and analy- 
zing these stories of a simple peoj)le who can no longer 
speak for themselves. 



m THE OLDEN TIME. 229 

In most ancient times Votan ^ came to tlie coast now 
known as Tabasco, found savages inhabiting the country, 
whom by patient labor he civilized, thus founding the Em- 
pire of Xibalbay^ and the dynasty of the Votanides. He 
or his immediate descendants built Nachan or Culhuacan, 
whose ruins at Palenque in Yucatan have astonished all 
travellers and students since their discovery.^ Similar 
ruins, inscribed with the same hieroglyphic characters, are 
found at Copan in Honduras, Quirigua, Tikal, and other 
places ; and the arts of architecture and sculpture show in 
these remains a development not attained by any succeed- 
ing inhabitants of this continent until the present century. 
While Xibalbay was still extending its empire over por- 
tions of Mexico and Central America, another leader 
brought with him from the North a people called Nahoas, 
who founded a city not far from Palenque, towards the 
southwest, naming it Tula (whence this people are often 
called Tultecas). The chief bore a symbolic name, as is 
even now usual with the Indian tribes of North America, 
and Quetzalcoatl (serpent with the plumes of the quetzal), 
or Gucumatz, — as he is known in the Guatemaltecan 
legends, — by his superior ability (called magic by the 
people), brought his power to such a height as wholly 
to overshadow the flourishing Xibalbay, whose conquered 
inhabitants were scattered in various directions. Some 
went northward to Mexico and founded a monarchy 
(according to Clavigero, in the seventh century of our 
era), which after four hundred years of prosperity was 
destroyed by famine ; and the survivors, led by their 

1 Le mitlie de Votan. H. de Charencey, Alengon, 1871. 

2 Pronounced Shibalbay. 

^ Discovered by Spaniards in 1750, but no illustrations were published 
until 1834. 



230 GUATEMALA. 

king, Topiltzin Acxitl, returned to the fruitful lands of 
Central America, and in Honduras founded the kingdom 
of Hueytlat, with the principal city of Copantl, now 
known by the wonderful ruins of Copan. 

Other immigrations are mentioned by tradition, but no 
definite account of their origin is given. It seems prol> 
able, however, that certain tribes, called Mam^ or Mem, 
came from the North and destroyed both Tula and Na- 
chan. Another inroad, led by the four chiefs Balam 
Agab, Balam Quitze, Mahucutah, and Iq Balam, ad- 
vanced as far as Mount Hacavitz in Verapaz, north of 
Eabinal ; and here these chiefs remained as freebooters 
and founded that tribe known as the Quiches. They 
constantly attacked their neighbors, and offered the cap- 
tives taken in these encounters to their god Toliil, who, 
with Avilitz and Hacavitz, formed the trinity in the 
Quiche cult. Force and stratagem proving of no avail 
against them, the surrounding tribes gradually submitted ; 
and when peace was established, the four captains con- 
veniently disappeared, leaving the government in the 
hands of three sons, Iq Balam having no offspring. And 
now we have the curious account given by the un- 
known author of the "Popul Vuh," or sacred book of the 
Quiches, of which two translations exist, one in Spanish 
by Ximenes, the other in French by the Abbe Brasseur 
de Bourbourg. The annalist tells us that before the 
departure of the four chiefs they charged their sons to 
undertake a journey to the East ; and the new rulers, in 
obedience to this command, passed the sea easily (Lago 
de Izabal ?) and came to the city of a great lord called 

^ Meaning dumb, because they could not pronounce certain letters of the 
Cakchiquel alphabet. 



m THE OLDEN TIME. 231 

Nacxit/ who instructed tliem in the art of government 
and invested them with the feather umbrellas,^ throne, 
and other symbols whose Indian names both translators 
fail to interpret. 

On their return all their subjects received them with 
joy ; but so numerous had the people become that Mount 
Hacavitz could no longer contain them, and now began 
the dispersion of the tribes. 

One branch went westward and founded Izmachi, a 
city some distance westward of Santa Cruz del Quiche. 
No rude Indios these who built Izmachi of stone and 
mortar. 

From this centre grew the Quiche power, until it 
reached from the borders of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, 
and eastward to the Lago de Izabal. Several tribes or 
feudatory monarchies owed allegiance to the ruler of Iz- 
machi ; and if we may believe the "Popul Vuh," we must 
recognize a feudal system quite as elaborate as that of 
Europe in the Middle Ages. A line of monarchs, extending 
to fourteen, or even twenty-four, exercised authority ; but 
so obscure are the accounts that the line cannot at present 
be followed. Only this seems clear, that there were but 
three great families of the Quiches, and these lived in peace 
for a time in their new lands, perhaps during the fifth and 
sixth centuries of our era. At last the jealousy of the 
tribe of Ilocab, or the ambitious designs of the kings 
Cotuha and Iztayul, kindled the first of a long series of 
wars that in local importance rivalled those between 
Eome and Carthage. In the security of a long peace the 

^ Topiltzin Acxitl, the Tultec king of Copantl. 

2 This recalls the Kahili, or feather standard, the symbol of authority in the 
Hawaiian Islands. 



232 GUATEMALA. 

guards of Cotuha were surprised by well-armed visitors 
from Ilocab ; but so complete was the military system of 
the Quiches that immediately the hosts were collected, 
battled with the rebels, and after utterly routing them, 
reduced some to slavery, and sacrificed others on the 
bloody altar of Tohil. 

The successors of Cotuha and Iztayul were Gucumatz 
and Cotuha II., during whose reigns the capital was re- 
moved to the site called Utatlan or Gumarcah. On this 
platform, so admirably adapted for fortification, palaces 
and altars, as well as fortifications, were built of cut 
stone. Watch-towers rose high in air, and answered to 
those in the surrounding mountain regions. The Plaza 
was paved with a smooth white cement superior to the 
stucco of Pompeii, and the ruins so distinct forty years 
ago tell a plain story of an advanced civilization. It may 
be of interest to read what this most remarkable people 
say of themselves, that we may more clearly see them 
before us. Their greatness passed away, as did all the 
learning, art, and refinement of Athens and Rome, to be 
succeeded by ignorance, slavery, and degradation ; and 
alas ! this nation of the New World has left but few 
monuments to tell the story of what it once was. 

So slight are the glimpses we have of that past, that 
the picture must be a shadowy outline at best ; but it is 
worth while to trace even the outline, for the portrait 
will apply to the other inhabitants of Guatemala as well 
as to the Quiches. The wisdom of the kings was magic 
even to the Spanish annalists, and these tell of the " Rey 
portentoso " Gucumatz that, like the prophet Mohammed, 
he ascended into heaven, where he abode seven days ; 
and that he descended into hell, where he tarried other 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 233 

seven days. He transformed himself into a serpent, a 
tigre, an eagle, and a mass of clotted blood, each change 
lasting seven days, — that mystic nmnber of the Cabala 
and of European black art. "And surely," says the 
Spaniard, " great was the respect he gained by these mira- 
cles before all the lords and all those of his kingdom." 

Nothing puzzles the student more than the duplication 
and interchange of names ; but let it be remembered that 
the Quiche names that have come to us are rather titles, — 
and this is especially the case with Grucumatz, a word 
equivalent to the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, which is applied to 
any distinguished reformer or leader of his people. Cad- 
mus and George Washington might both claim the title. 

I will translate from the " Popul Vuh," using generally 
the Spanish version of Ximenes, as less influenced by the 
theories of the translator than the later one of Brasseur 
de Bourbourg. I begin with the creation of the world 
and of man. 

" Then the word came to Tepeu Gucumatz ^ in the 
shades of night ; it spoke to Gucumatz and said to him : 
It is time to consult, to consider, to meet and hold coun- 
sel together, to join speech and wisdom to light the way 
and for mutual guidance. And the name of this is 
Huracan, the Voice which sounds : the Voice of Thunder is 
the first ; the second is the Flash of Light ; the Lightning 
is the third. These three are the Heart of Heaven, and 
they descended to Gucumatz at the moment when he was 

1 The signification of these names, as given by a distinguished scholar, is as 
follows : Hunahpu, the one master of supernatural power ; Vuch, opossum ; 
Gucumatz, decorated with feathers ; Xmucane, female vigor ; Xfiyacoc, mem- 
brum virile (xiphil, and ococ, to enter) ; Huracan, one very great Qiun, one, 
and racan, great) ; Cabracan, second great one ; Chirakan, ostium vaginae ; 
Tepeu, high. 



234 GUATEMALA. 

considering the work of creation. Know that this water 
will retire and give place to land, which shall appear 
everywhere; there shall be light in the heaven and on 
earth : but we have yet made no being who shall respect 
and honor us. They spoke, and the land appeared 
because of them." 

After the mountains and plains and rivers and all 
animals of the forest had been created, the gods proceeded 
to form man. First thev made him of mud ; but the rains 
descended and beat upon that being, and he dissolved. 
Not being able to make man according to their desires, 
they called to their aid the mysterious powers of Xpi- 
yacoc and Xmucane, magic adepts, and by incantation 
learned that man should be made of wood, and woman of 
the pith of bulrush. This second edition of the human 
species was little better than the first, although more dur- 
able. The stiff, wooden images had neither fat nor blood ; 
they could speak and beget children, but lacked intelli- 
gence. Their eyes were never turned to heaven, and their 
tongues never glorified Huracan. Then there fell from 
heaven a torrent of bitumen and pitch on these ungrate- 
ful children, a bird named Xecotcovuch tore out their 
eyes, another, named Camulotz, cut their heads, while an 
animal called Cotzbalam ate their flesh, and the Tucum- 
balam crushed their bones. The poor wretches climbed 
their roofs to escape the flood ; ' but the walls crumbled 
beneath them, and the trees fled from them, and when 
they sought refuge in the caves of the mountains, the 
stone doors shut in their faces. Of all the numerous 
progeny of this wooden couple, only a few were pre- 
served, and from them have descended the apes of the 
present day. 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 235 

A third attempt was more successful, as maiz was used 
to form blood and flesh and fat. Xmucane ground the 
corn and cunningly concocted nine beverages, which were 
changed into the various humors of the body. This first 
successful creation was fourfold, and the names of the 
quartette were identical with those of the four chiefs who 
conducted the Quiches to Mount Hacavitz. While these 
primitive men slept, their wives were built, — not, however, 
by robbing the men, but of the remaining portion of the 
same meal. 

The celestial powers did not, however, have everything 
as they wished. The man was tolerable, but by no means 
perfect, for his teeth were defective ; and he was built too 
much like the apes to carry himself erect with perfect 
safety, hence he became ruptured. But there was no 
time to try again, for they had already a rival in the 
person of Vucub-caquix, — a sort of Lucifer who imagined 
himself to be the sun, moon, and all the stars. How he 
was punished, the "Popul Vuli" tells at length; and I am 
tempted to translate literally, using the text of Ximenes, 
that my readers may judge both of the style of this sacred 
book, and also of the mode of thought and the belief 
among the Quiches at the time when Utatlan was in all 
its glory. 

" This is, or was, the cause of the destruction of Vucub- 
caquix by the two young men. Hunahpu, so was called 
the one, and the other was called Xbalanque : these more- 
over were gods, and therefore that arrogance seemed evil 
to them, in that it claimed superiority to the Heart of 
Heaven ; and they said, the two young men : ' It will not 
be right to let this go on, for men will not live here on 
earth; and so we will try to shoot him with the blow-gun 



236 GUATEMALA. 

[cerhatana) when he is eating : we will shoot him and dis- 
able him ; and then will be dispersed his riches, his precious 
stones, and his emeralds, which are the foundation of his 
greatness;' and so said the youths, each one with his blow- 
gun on his shoulder. Now, that Vucub-caquix had two 
sons : the elder was called Sipacua, and the second was 
called Cabracan, and their mother was named Chimalmat. 
She was the wife of Vucub-caquix. And that son of his, 
Sipacua, whose pasture-ground was great mountains, that 
one moreover in one night before dawn made the moun- 
tain called Hunahpupecul, Yaxcanulmucamob, Hulisnab, 
because in a night Sipacua made a mountain ; and his 
brother Cabracan (this is, of two feet) used to move and 
shake the mountains both great and small. And so more- 
over these two sons of Vucub-caquix became proud ; and 
thus said Vucub-caquix : ' Know ye that I am the sun.' 
' And I am the maker of the earth,' said Sipacua ; ' and 
I,' said Cabracan, ' am he who moves the earth, I will de- 
molish all the world.' And thus the sons of Vucub-caquix 
became arrogant even as their father was arrogant ; and 
this seemed evil in the sight of the two youths, Hunahpu 
and Xbalanque. Nevertheless our first fathers and 
mothers were not yet created, and thus the two youths 
plotted the death of Vucub-caquix, of Sipacua, and of 
Cabracan. 

"And here follows the telling of the blow the two 
youths gave to Vucub-caquix, and how each one was de- 
stroyed by his arrogance. 

" This Vucub-caquix had a tree of nances, because that 
was his only food ; and every day he climbed the tree to 
eat the fruit. This Hunahpu and Xbalanque had observed 
that it was his food ; and they lay in ambush, the two 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 237 

youths, under the tree hidden among the leaves of the 
grass. And then came Yucub-caquix ; and while he was yet 
climbing the tree, Hunahpu fired a shot which was well 
aimed, and hit him in the jaw ; then, groaning, he fell to 
the ground. And as soon as Hunahpu saw Vucub-caquix 
fall, he sprang with the greatest promptitude to catch 
him. Then Vucub-caquix seized Hunahpu' s arm and tore 
it off at the shoulder ; and then Hunahpu let Vucub-caquix 
go ; and so the youths had the best of it, for they were not 
beaten by Vucub-caquix, who ran home carrying Hunahpu' s 
arm, but holding his broken jaws. 

'"What has happened to you?' said Chimalmat to her 
husband Vucub-caquix. 

" ' What has happened ? But two devils shot me with 
a blow-gun and unhinged my jaw ; they knocked out all 
my teeth, — and how they ache ! But I have here the 
arm of one of them. Put it in the smoke over the fire 
against they come for it, the two devils ! ' said Vucub- 
caquix. And then she hung up the arm of Hunahpu. 

" But in the mean while Hunahpu and Xbalanque were 
consulting as to what was to be done; and having 
taken counsel, they went to speak to an ancient man 
whose hair was white, and an old woman who in truth 
was very old ; and so great was the age of the couple that 
they walked bent double. The old man was called Sa- 
quinimac, and the old woman was called Saquinimatzitz. 
And the two youths said to the old man and the old 
woman, — 

" ' Come with us to get our arm at the house of Vucub- 
caquix. We will go behind you, as if we were your 
grandchildren whose father and mother were dead ; and 
if they question you, say that we are in your company, 



238 GUATEMALA. 

and that yon are travelling about extracting the maggot 
that eats the grinders and other teeth; and so Vucub- 
caquix will look upon us as mere lads, and we will 
advise you what to do further.' Thus spoke the two 
youths. 

" ' It is well,' said the elders ; and then they came to 
the corner of Vucub-caquix's house, where he was re- 
clining on his throne. And then they went on, the two 
elders, and the two boys playing behind them, and they 
went under the house of Vucub-caquix, who was groanmg 
with the pain of his teeth. When he saw them, the 
elders and the boys, he asked, — 

" ' Whence come you, grandparents ? ' 

" ' We, lord, are going to seek our remedy.' 

" ' How are you seeking your remedy ? Are these your 
sons who are with you ? ' 

" ' No, lord, they are our grandchildren ; but we have 
had compassion on them so far as to give them a bit of 
tortilla,' the elders replied. 

" Just then the lord had a very sharp twinge of tooth- 
ache, so that he could hardly speak ; and he begged them 
to have pity on him. 

" ' What is it that you do ; what do you cure ? ' said the 
lord. 

" ' Sir, our cure,' said the elders, ' is to extract the 
maggot from the teeth ; and we cure eye-troubles, and 
likewise broken bones.' 

" ' Well, if this is true, cure my toothache ; for I am 
without rest, and cannot sleep, and my eyes trouble me also, 
since the two devils shot me, and so I cannot eat. Now 
have compassion on me, for all my teeth are rattling 
about ! ' 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 239 

" ' Surely, sir, it is a maggot which injures you ; we will 
pull out your teeth and put others in their place.' 

" ' Oh ! perhaps that won't succeed ; but I can't eat 
without my teeth and eyes.' 

" And they replied, — 

" ' We will put others in their place ; we will put in 
ground bone.' 

" But this ground bone was only white corn. 

" ' It is well,' said the lord ; ' pull them out and put 
them in order.' 

"And then they took out the teeth of Vucub-caquix ; and 
it was only white corn that they put in the place of teeth, 
and the kernels of corn shone in his mouth. And his coun- 
tenance fell, and he never more appeared a lord ; but they 
took out all his teeth, and left his mouth smarting. And 
when they cured the eyes of Vucub-caquix, they tore 
out the pupils. Then they took away all his money, and 
he did not know it ; for he was no longer great nor 
arrogant. And this was done by the counsel of Hunahpu 
and Xbalanque. 

"And Vucub-caquix died, and then Hunahpu took his 
arm ; and also Chimalmat died, the wife of Vucuib-ca- 
quix ; and so was lost all the treasure of Vucub-caquix. 
Then the doctor took all the precious stones which had 
puffed him up with pride here on earth. The old man 
and old woman who did these things were divine ; and 
when they took his arm, they put it in its place, and 
it reunited and was well. And they did these things 
only to cause the death of Vucub-caquix because his 
pride seemed an evil thing to them. So did the two 
youths, and it was thus done by the command of the 
Heart of Heaven." 



240 GUATEMALA. 

Then follows an account of the pride and evil-doing of 
Sipacua, and how he destroyed the " cuatrocientos mucha- 
cJios " (four hundred young men) ; and the Chronicle 
continues : — 

" Then follows how Sipacua was conquered and killed ; 
how another time he was overcome by the youths Hu- 
nahpu and Xbalanque : to them he appeared contemptible 
because he had killed the four hundred youths. And Si- 
pacua was alone fishing and hunting crabs on the river 
banks ; this was his every-day diet. Days he spent seek- 
ing his food, while at night he moved mountains. Then 
Hunahpu and Xbalanque made an image of a crab. They 
made the large claws of the crab of a leaf which grows 
on the trees and is called ec, and the little ones of other 
smaller leaves called jDahac ; and the shell and claws 
they made of flat stones. And they made it and placed it 
in a cave under a hill called Meaban, where he was con- 
quered. Then they went along and met Sipacua by the 
rivulet, and asked him where he was going. And Sipacua 
replied, — 

" ' I am not gomg anywhere ; I am only looking for 
something to eat. 

" And they asked him, ^ What is your food ? ' 

" ' Only fishes and crabs, and I have found none ; and 
since the day before yesterday I have not eaten, and now 
I cannot bear my hunger.' 

" Then said they : ' There is a crab below in the gulch ; 
in truth it is very large : would you might eat that ! We 
wanted to catch it, but it bit us, and we were in terror of 
it, or else we would have caught it.' 

" ' Have pity on me and take me where it is,' said 
Sipacua. 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 241 

" ' We do not wish to,' said they ; ' but go, you cannot 
lose your way. Go up stream, turn to the right, and you 
will be in front of it under a great hill ; it is making a 
noise and making hovol : you will go straight to it,' said 
Hunahpu and Xbalanque. 

" ' miserable me ! if perchance you had not found it,' 
said Sipacua. ' I will go and show you where there are 
plenty of birds ; you will shoot them with the blow-gun. 
T alone know where they are, and in return for them I 
will go under the rock.' 

" ' And shall you truly be able to catch it ? Do not make 
us return for no purpose ; because we tried to catch it, and 
could not, because we crawled in on our bellies and it bit 
us ; and so by a trifle we could not catch it. So it will be 
well for you to go in pursuit tail-end first.' 

"■ ' It is well,' said Sipacua. 

" And then they went with him to the gulch, and the 
crab was lying on his side, and his shell was very bright- 
colored ; and here under the valley was the secret of the 
youths. 'Hurrah!' said Sipacua, joyfully ; and he wished 
to eat it, for he was dying with hunger. And he tried to 
enter lying down ; but the crab rose up, and he at once 
retreated. And the youths said to him, — 

" ' Did n't you catch it ? ' 

" ' I did n't catch it, I just missed it ; but as it has gone 
up high, it will be well for me to enter head first.' 

" And immediately he crawled in head first ; and when 
he had got in all but his knees, the mountain toppled down 
and fell quietly down upon his breast, and he returned no 
more. And Sipacua became stone. And thus was Sipa- 
cua conquered by the youths Hunahpu and Xbalanque ; 
and they tell that in ancient times it was he who made 

16 



242 GUATEMALA. 

the mountains, this elder son of Vucub-caquix. Under 
the mountain which is called Meaban he was overcome, 
and only by a miracle was he conquered ; and now will 
we tell of the other who was puffed up with pride. 

'^ The third fellow who was arrogant, the second son 
of Vucub-caquix, who was called Cabracan, used to say, 
'• I am the one who destroys mountains.' 

" And so it came to pass that Hunahpu and Xbalanque 
declared that they would put an end to Cabracan. Then 
Huracan, Chipa-caculha, and Raxa-caculha spoke unto 
Hunahpu and Xbalanque, saying that the second son of 
Vucub-caquix must be destroyed also. 

" ' This have I commanded, because he does evil upon 
the earth ; because he makes himself very great, and this 
ought not so to be. Arise now, and seek him towards 
the sunrise.' So spoke Huracan to the two youths. 

" ' It is well,' they replied, ' and it seems good to us 
to risk. There is no danger. Is not your greatness, 
Heart of Heaven, above all ? ' Thus spoke the two 
youths in reply to Huracan, and at the very time Cabra- 
can was shaking the mountains. Hardly had he shaken 
them a little, kicking with his feet on the ground (then 
he was breaking the mountains great and small), when 
the two youths met him and asked, — 

" ' Where are you going, boy ? ' 

" ' I am not going anywhere,' he replied ; ' I am only 
here shaking the mountains, and I shall always be shak- 
ing them.' 

" Then said Cabracan to Hunahpu and Xbalanque, 
' What do you come here for ? I don't recognize you, 
nor do I know what you are here for. What are your 
names ? ' 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 243 

a i "y^e have no name,' replied they ; ' we are only 
hunters with the blow-gun, and we catch birds with 
bird-lime. We are poor and have nothing, and we are 
tramping over the mountains great and small. Here in 
the East we see a great mountain, and its sweet odor is 
very pleasant. And it is so lofty that it overtops all the 
other mountains. So we have not been able, it is so 
high, to catch a single bird. So if it be true that you 
overturn mountains,' said Hunahpu and Xbalanque, 
' then you will aid us.' 

" ' It certainly is true,' said Cabracan. ' Have you seen 
this mountain of which you speak ? Where is it ? I 
will look at it, and I will topple it down. Where did 
you see it ? ' 

" ' There,' said they, ' it is, where the sun rises.' 

u i Yery well,' said Cabracan, ' let us go ; and it will 
be strange if we don't get some birds between us. One 
will go on the right hand, the other on the left. We 
will take our blow-guns, and if there is a bird we '11 shoot 
him.' 

" So they went on happily, shooting birds (and it should 
be said that when they shot, it was not with balls of clay, 
but only with a puff of breath did they knock down 
the birds), and Cabracan went on astonished. Then the 
youths made a fire and set about cooking the birds in the 
fire ; and one bird they anointed with tizate, white earth 
they put on it. ' This we will give him,' said they, ' when 
desire is strong upon him, smelling its savor. This our 
bird shall conquer him, for in conquering him he must 
fall to the ground ; and in the ground must he be buried 
(wise is the Creator !) before human beings are brought 
to light.' So spoke the two youths, and to themselves 



244 GUATEMALA. 

they said it. Great desire had Cabracan in his heart to 
eat of it. Then they turned the bird on the fire and 
seasoned it. Now it was brown, and the fat of the 
birds ran out, and the savor was delectable ; so Cabracan 
was most eager to eat them, and his mouth watered, and 
the saliva dropped from it, because of the delicious smell 
the birds gave out. And then he asked them, — 

" ' What is this your food ? Truly it is an appetizing 
odor I smell ; give me a bit.' 

" He spoke, and then was given a bird to Cabracan 
for his destruction ; and he quickly finished the bird. 
And then they went on, and came to the birthplace 
of the sun, where was that great mountain. But Cab- 
racan was now sickened, and he had no strength in his 
hands and feet, because of that earth which they had 
put on the bird he ate ; and now he could no longer 
do anything to the mountains, nor could he overturn 
them. So the youths tied his hands behind him, and 
likewise tied his feet together, and threw him on the 
ground and buried him. So was Cabracan conquered 
by Hunahpu and Xbalanque alone. It is not possible 
to tell the feats these youths did here on earth." 

The author of the " Popul Vuh," however, goes on to 
tell of some of the wonders they did in Xibalbay, — 
which Ximenes considers hell, — and my readers would 
find the story very amusing ; but I have translated per- 
haps enough to show the ideas of the Quiches ten cen- 
turies ago. 

The Quiche kings had removed their capital from 
Izmachi to Gumarcah, — afterwards called Utatlan, — 
not far from the modern Spanish town of Santa Cruz 
del Quich^ ; and it was the poor remains of this city, 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 



245 



destroyed three centuries and a half ago, that I visited in 
journeying through Guatemala. The situation was a fine 
one, well suited for the metropolis of an extensive king- 
dom ; for while roads and mountain-passes gave access 
in all directions, the very mountains formed a wall easily 
guarded, and watch-towers to discover approaching dan- 
ger. It was situated not unlike Granada on the Vega 
in the Sierras of Andalusia ; and like that noble capital 
of the Moorish kingdom, it was well fortified, and em- 
bellished with all the knowledge and taste of the time. 

On the platform where Frank and I had stumbled over 
the confused piles of rubbish and tried in vain to trace 
the buildings, so distinct only forty years before, the 
mighty Gucumatz had built high 
the altar of the bloodthirsty Tohil, 
— a steep pyramid in the centre of 
the rebuilt Gumarcah, now called 
Utatlan. Our knowledge of the 
ceremonial of that Quiche worship 
is but slight ; but enough is known 
to give an air of reality to the pile 
of rubbish that alone marks the 
site of the holy place of this an- 
cient kingdom. I sat near the 
base of the altar, and the city 
walls arose about me ; the ruin of 
three centuries departed, and again all was new and full 
of busy life. Around me, but at a suitable distance from 
the altar-temple, were the palaces of the princes, built of 
cut stone and covered with the most brilliant white 
stucco. From the flat roofs of these massive dwellings 
floated banners of many colors and strange devices; 




Ancient Tennple. 
{From an old Manuscript. ) 



246 



GUATEMALA. 



arches of evergreens and flowers spanned every entrance 
to this Plaza, whose floor was of the smoothest, whitest 
stucco, and heaps of fragrant flowers were piled at the 
palace-doorways and about the great altar that towered 
like a mountain of light in the midst. All around me 
Vi^ere the phantom forms of the Indios, clad in garments 
of rich colors, but silent and expectant ; I seemed to 

know them all and understand 
their tongue. It was the most 
sacred festival of the year ; the 
rains had ceased, and the sum- 
mer was beginning, — and a 
summer at Utatlan was a de- 
light unequalled in the outer 
world. 

For many months the high 
priest and king had hidden 
himself from the sight of man, 
high in the mountains that over- 
look the Quiche plain. In his 
casa verde he was engaged in 
prayer and meditation, while 
his only food was fruit and un- 
cooked maiz. His body was 
unclothed, but stained with dismal dyes ; and twice every 
day, as the sun rose and set, he cut himself with an 
obsidian knife on his arms, legs, tongue, and genitals, 
that he might offer his choicest blood to the divinity he 
worshipped. Once only in his life must he do this ; and 
scattered in the remote mountain-hermitages were many 
nobles keeping him company in the spirit. These were 
the fathers of the young men who had not yet offered 




Indio Sacrificing. 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 247 

their blood, and had been selected to be the god-children 
of their king and priest. In these lonely retreats the 
fathers taught their sons manly duties, and drew their 
blood from the five wounds.^ 

The votaries had gathered from their various cells at 
the sound of the drum, which was beaten only on most 
solemn occasions, and were marching in procession to tlie 
Plaza. I could see them as they filed on to the narrow 
causeway that led into the town, and then they were lost 
to sight as they climbed the steep ascent. In profound 
silence these men and youths, naked as they were born, 
entered the enclosure and seated themselves at the foot 
of the altar-steps. The solemn silence was now suddenly 
broken by a crash of trumpets and drums, while a pro- 
cession of a different kind took up its march to the tem- 
ple. Bright colors and the gleam of gold and precious 
stones, the clang of barbaric music and the sound of holy 
songs, reached the eye and ear as the idols, which had 
been carefully concealed since the last fiesta, were now 
brought to the place of sacrifice. Strange things these 
were, — not of " heaven above, nor the earth beneath, 
nor of the waters which are under the earth," but carved 
from wood and stone and decked with beaten gold, hung 
with jewels, and borne triumphantly on the shoulders of 
the noblest citizens. Then all was joy and bustle in the 
Plaza. The hermits were clothed with new robes and 
welcomed back with honor, the high priest put on his 
robes and mitre, and for a while the people gave them- 

1 It is probable that at this time they circumcised their sons, although we 
have no direct statement to that effect. The Mayas practised this sanatory 
measure, which seems to have had no religious significance. Stone knives 
were used, and only once. 



248 GUATEMALA. 

selves "up to music and dancing and ball-playing ; it 
seemed as if life had no other end. But a terrible solem- 
nity was to come. Even among the dancers I saw men 
clothed in a peculiar but rich garb, — generally of an- 
other people, but not always foreign ; and I knew that 
these men had for days before the festival gone freely 
through the town, entered any house, even the royal 
palace, where the food they sought was freely given 
them, and they were treated with marked respect. Out- 
side the city-walls were some of them, with collars about 
their necks, attended by four officers of the king's guard. 
Food, drink, and even the women were free to these 
honored men; but they were captives taken in war, or 
perhaps men who were obnoxious to the king, and were 
to be sacrificed to Tohil. A terrible death awaited them ; 
but they regarded their fate as a matter they could not 
help, and with Indian stolidity enjoyed the frolics of the 
people and smiled at care. It was strange to see how 
little any one seemed to be affected by the certainly ap- 
proaching death of their fellows. Every one knew what 
was coming ; but no dread anticipation marred the festive 
scene. 

The music ceased in the Plaza, the chief idol was 
placed on the altar-top, and the priests and nobles 
seized the victims by the hair and passed them, strug- 
gling, one by one up the steep steps of the altar to the 
chief priest, who stood high on the sacrificatorio in the 
sight of all the people. There was no murmur, not even 
a shudder, among the multitude, only the involuntary 
shrieks of the sacrifice as the priest cut into his breast 
with the stone knife and tore out his quivering heart. 
Holding this in the golden spoon of the temple, he 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 249 

placed it reverently in the mouth of the idol, loudly 
chanting this prayer : " Lord, hear us, for we are thine ! 
Give us health, give us children and prosperity, that 
thy people may increase ! Give us water and the rains, 
that we may be nourished and live ! Hear our suppli- 
cations, receive our prayers, assist us against our ene- 
mies, and grant us peace and quiet ! " And the people 
cried, "So be it, Lord ! " 

The body had been extended on a rounded sacrificial 
stone and the neck held securely by the yoke ; but now 
it was hurled down the side of the pyramid where there 
were no steps, and those appointed carried the remains 
to the caldron whither those who had the right came 
for the cooked meat, the hands and feet being reserved 
for the officiating priest.^ One by one the victims were 
offered to the idol, while the pyramid was no longer 
white, but crimson ; and their death-shrieks were ring- 
ing in my ear, when Frank laid his hand on my shoulder 
and asked if I was asleep. Called back to deserted ruins 
and the humdrum present, I could not entirely shake 
off the impression of the past. On that little mound 
where we were sitting so peacefully, hundreds, yes, 
thousands, of our fellow-men had writhed in agony to 
satisfy the enmity of their fellows or to be an ac- 
ceptable offering to the gods who were supposed to 
be their creators.^ Truly there are few nations whose 

^ I have often had the pleasure of conversing with cannibals, and they 
always assured me that the hands were the choicest morsel. It will be noted 
that the Central American Indios always boilgd their cannibal food, while 
the Pacific Islanders as generally roasted it. In one of the manuscripts pre- 
served in the Vatican Library is a clear picture of this process, and the kettle 
seems large enough to receive the body whole. 

2 It is the way of Christian communities to speak with holy horror of the 
human sacrifices these heathen were accustomed to offer at each new year to 



250 GUATEMALA. 

religious history is pleasant reading ; let us turn to other 
matters. 

The more artificial civilization becomes, the weaker 
is the desire for offspring ; and we must relegate the 
Quiches, by this rule, to a very primitive state, for the 
burden of their prayers was " Give unto us children," 
and their faith was incarnate in works. They believed, 
with the psalmist, that " children are an heritage of the 
Lord ; happy is the man that hath his quiver full of 
them." Hence the birth of a child was a most auspi- 
cious event, to be celebrated with feasts and rejoicings, 
and each returning birthday was duly remembered. 
With the truest mercy, they put an end to all children 
born deformed or defective in mind or body ; hence 
deformed or idiotic persons are exceedingly rare among 
their descendants. 

The Quiches possessed the art of writing, though in 
logographs or ideographs, and they were skilled in the 
use of colors.^ I present some of the more common 

their gods ; the bloodthirsty Christian Si^aniards spoke much in the same way 
of these sacrifices three centuries ago. While the Indios did what they hon- 
estly believed was right, and did it in a most merciful manner, without tor- 
ture, the cruel invaders, in the name of the gentle Jesus of Nazareth and oi 
the Mother of God, burned these poor Indios alive by hundreds (Las Casas 
says by thousands), or gave them to be torn in pieces by the dogs. Let the 
Christian nations hold their peace over the human sacrifices of Central Amer- 
ica, when they remember the Holy Inquisition, St. Bartholomew, and the 
tortures of Jews, Turks, witches, Quakers, and other heretics, sanctioned by 
the Christian Church, — murders so cruel, so unprovoked, that they make the 
sacrifices of the Indios seem no worse than justifiable homicide. Were the 
sacrifices to Tohil so much more sinful than the sacrifices so common in this 
enlightened nation of children born, or unborn, to the Molochs of Comfort or 
Reputation? 

^ The Spaniards found, according to Herrera (Decade III. lib. iv.), paint- 
ings done at Utatlan eight hundred years before the Conquest, in which were 
represented the three kinds of royal insignia, — indicating an antiquity greater 
than that of the Aztecs. 



m THE OLDEN TIME. 



251 



forms, traced from the copies in Kingsborough's " Antiqui- 
ties." The first, two. interlocked elbows, signifies the 
fourth day of the month ; one of the elbows was colored 
red in the manuscript, while the other was green, both 
having an inner border of yellow. The simple hinge 
was of blue and red, with a yellow articulation; the 




Ideographs. 

hinge enclosing a dagger was yellow and green with 
red inner borders, and the dagger was red, yellow, and 
blue. The character denoting or representing a temple 
is readily recognized, and its usual colors are red and 
yellow; but it must not be supposed that these colors 
were always the same, they evidently depended on the 
taste of the scribe. A 
rude figure of a censer 
with a long handle 
through which the priest 
could blow upon the burn- 
ing gum copal used as 
incense, always denoted 
a sacrifice. This art of 
pictorial representation could not strictly be called writ- 
ing, but was a very useful substitute for it, and it was 
continued long after the Conquest. I have thought, after 
looking at some of the caricatures of the priests of the 
new worship which was forced upon these Indios, of the 
rite of baptism, and of the sacrifice of the Mass, that per- 




Ancient Incense-burner. 



252 GUATEMALA. 

haps these unfortunate subjects had as much influence in 
the wanton destruction of aboriginal literature as had the 
alleged doctrine of devilish things with which the books 
were said to be imbued. The old Spanish priests ought 
to have felt little fear of a creature they knew so well as 
they knew Satan. The shaven crowns of the padres 
were easily represented even by less skilled draughts- 
men than the Quiches, and the new doctrines gave the 
irreverent splendid chances for effective caricatures. 

In textile work they were advanced, obtaining results 
with their rude hand-looms that even to-day would hold 
their own against the machine-made fabrics of the pres- 
ent day for durability and aptness of design, even as 
the barbaric cashmere shawl cannot be equalled by the 
skilled artisans of France. To-day the weavers of this 
region produce cloths of very attractive design and 
made of honest material, while their shawls or blankets 
are often works of art. I once watched an Indian woman 
weaving a girdle on a narrow loom not more than six 
inches wide ; and without pattern before her she traced 
figures resembling those in the old manuscripts, though 
muigled with very modern-looking pictures. The coun- 
try abounds in dye-stuffs, so it is not surprising that 
their color-sense has been well developed by use. For 
fibres they were limited to cotton and wool in the looms, 
reserving the pita and other coarser fibres for hammocks 
and redes. 

Pottery of good shape and well baked is found among 
the ruins of Utatlan, and Stephens saw a figure of terra- 
cotta that must have required no little skill to model 
and bake. All the potsherds a diligent though not 
extended search gave us were of dark red color, hard 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 253 

baked, and evidently portions of spherical vessels. Not a 
sign of roof-tiles was seen, nor any painted fragments, 
although figured work was common enough. 

The Quiche rivers abounded in fish, and the forests and 
mountains in game, while the fields produced abundant 
crops with little labor. No wonder the Spanish con- 
querors found a civilization that astonished them, a 
wealth which roused all their terrible cupidity, but a 
resistance more determined and bloody than they had 
found in Mexico. 

It may not interest my readers to go deeply into the 
forms of government in those a.ncient times, but it may 
be said that it was an aristocratic monarchy hereditary 
in this peculiar way. When the principal king (Ahau- 
Ahpop) of the dual reign (there were always two kings 
at a time) died, the crown he had worn passed to his 
oldest brother, who performed the functions of Ahpop- 
Camha, and as second king had share in the government. 
The oldest son of the Ahau-Ahpop, who during the life 
of his father had been Nim-Chocoh-Cawek, became Ah- 
pop-Camha, and his cousin (son of the king's brother), 
who had been Ahau-Ali-Tohil or high priest of this god, 
Nim-Chocoh-Cawek, the elder son of the new sovereign 
taking the vacant post. 

In this wise method of civil service regencies were 
never needed, and each king had fitted himself, by exercise 
of subordinate but important offices, for the sujDreme rule. 
If any one of these dignitaries proved his unfitness for 
advancement, he was passed over, and the next in rank 
chosen ; and thus through a long series of offices. The 
corrupting influences of so-called popular elections, which 
are usually manipulated by a few conscienceless politicians 



254 GUATEMALA. 

who use the " dear people " simply as cat's-paws, are cer- 
tainly avoided ; but was it not possible to hasten the suc- 
cession, or to have a sort of " commission of lunacy " 
condemn an unpopular candidate, and so advance another 
unrighteously ? The insignia of the four chief dignitaries 
were feather canopies, of which the king had four, and the 
others in descending series. A council of the chief families 
advised the monarch in his government. 

The judges, who were also tax-gatherers, were ap- 
pointed from the noble families, and held office during 
good behavior ; death was the penalty for impeding these 
magistrates in their office. Capital punishment was ren- 
dered more bitter by the confiscation of the victim's pos- 
sessions and the enslavement of his immediate relatives. 
Breaches of trust ranked first among crimes, and homicide, 
adultery, confirmed robbery, larceny of sacred things, 
witchcraft, rape, were all capital crimes ; and the strangers 
who hunted or fished in the forests or rivers of the country, 
as well as the slaves who ran away the second time, were 
punished with death. 

There were laws against polygamy, and only the first 
wife was legitimate ; but, as among the most civilized na- 
tions of modern times, there were many concubines. In 
Guatemala perhaps this practice was more open and 
honest than in modern states and times. Only the chil- 
dren of the lawful wife could inherit, and the man who 
died without lawful issue was buried with his wealth, 
consisting generally of cotton cloths, ornaments, feathers, 
and cacao, which served as money. The laws of all the 
Central American tribes were severe, and differed some- 
what from those of the Quiches. But it has not seemed de- 
sirable to discuss these here ; we will rather consider some 



m THE OLDEN TIME. ' 255 

of the customs common to most of the inhabitants of 
the kingdom of Guatemala, and so pass beyond the 
walls of Utatlan, to which, however, we shall presently 
return. 

Agriculture among the Central American nations was 
mostly confined to the planting of maiz and beans {frijoles), 
which were staple products and served as a currency in 
gross, while cacao, which was said to have been first 
planted by Hunahpu, eighth king of Quiche, served for 
small change. They cultivated cotton, which furnished 
their clothing, and tobacco, which they smoked with 
moderation. Chocolate was not a common drink, but 
reserved for the nobles and soldiers who had distin- 
guished themselves in battle. The cacao was planted with 
great ceremony. Seeds of the largest pods were selected 
and carefully fumigated with copal and other gums ; and 
these seeds were then left in the open air four nights 
during the time of the full moon, and meanwhile the 
planters attended assiduously to their marital duties. 
Onions, plantains, potatoes, yams, chickpease, squashes 
of various kinds, supplied their table, and many native 
fruits added to their comfort. The Indios then, as now, 
were very fond of flowers ; but whether they generally cul- 
tivated them, or found enough growing spontaneously, 
we do not know. Certainiy there were royal gardens at 
Utatlan. 

In manufactures, weaving was of first importance, and 
the threads were dyed with indigo, cochineal, or purple. 
Embroidery was also much used. Then from fibrous 
plants they plaited hammocks and nets, from reeds (jimco) 
they wove hats of great durability, and from withes, 
baskets and sacks. The potter's work was also of great 



256 GUATEMALA. 

importance, and the vases, bowls, and jars, often of great 
size, were colored with certain waters and mineral de- 
posits. I do not know that they had any glaze, other 
than perhaps salt. 

They had no iron, but they made tools from an alloy 
of copper and tin to which they gave an extraordinary 
hardness, and they also used obsidian for knives and 
cutting instruments generally. Remains of knife-fac- 
tories are common enough through the country, and often 
too where the raw material is not in situ. Gold was 
found in the streams, and the goldsmiths attained no little 
skill in making ornaments, which were often enriched 
with precious stones, especially opals from Honduras. 
Curious feather work was brought from Tesulutan in 
Verapaz. 

They made paper from a bark called amatl, and also 
used parchment. Maps were plotted, and the scribes had 
books in which were entered all the divisions of the land ; 
and to these, as to a registry of deeds, were referred all 
disputes about real estate. Chroniclers there were who 
compiled great books, many of which Las Casas saw ; and 
these, he tells us, were burned by the early missionaries, 
w^ho have thus earned the curses of succeeding genera- 
tions. Superhuman must have been their good deeds to 
counterbalance this destruction*! 

The Quiches, Cakchiquels, and nearly all the other 
tribes divided the year into eighteen months of twenty 
days, adding five days (consecrated to Votan) to complete 
the cycle, and every fourth year still another day. There 
were twenty day-names, of which we have three slightly 
differing lists j but the month was not subdivided into 
weeks. 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 



257 



We know but little of the games and amusements of 
the Indios in ancient times ; but Torquemada has described ^ 
for us one national game, which seems to have required 
more skill and agility than the game of court-tennis (I 
do not speak of the effeminate lawn-tennis). The court 
consisted of two parallel walls very thick, and about one 
hundred feet apart. These walls were thirty feet high, 
and in each, at a height of from twenty to twenty-four 
feet, was a stone ring usually sculptured in some careful 
manner. At the 
open ends of the 
court were two little 
temples. A ball of 
rubber, large and 
very hard, was used 
by the players, who 
received the coming 
ball, not on a bat or 
racket, but on the 
padded buttock, 
from which the play- 
er endeavored to 
throw it through the 

ring, but without touching it with his hands. As the 
hole was only about eighteen inches in diameter, this 
was a most difficult feat, requiring great flexibility of 
the pelvic and thigh muscles. The victor was allowed 
to take the clothes of any of the spectators ; so it may 
be supposed these went to the game in scant garb. 
Remains of these ball-grounds are found in many cities, 
and the stone ring of the illustration is at Chichen Itza ; 

1 Monarquia Indiana, lib. ii. ch. xii. 
17 




Stone Ring for Ball Game. 



258 GUATEMALA. 

it is four feet in diameter, and decorated with the 
symbols of Quetzal coatl. 

A nation of warriors, it would be supposed their arts 
would provide arms both offensive and defensive; but 
there seems to have been nothing of peculiar originality. 
Arrows and darts, often poisoned, hatchets and wooden 
swords, in which were inserted obsidian teeth, were their 
weapons of offence, and those of defence were coats of 
quilted cotton, which the Spaniards were not slow to 
adopt, and shields of skins lined with cotton. While the 
generals and other officers were clothed in skins of pumas, 
jaguars, eagles, and other animals, it does not appear that 
the rank and file had any especial uniform.-^ All joined 
battle with yells and the lugubrious blasts of the tun or 
teponaztles, -=— a sort of trumpet sounding even worse than 
an Alpine lure. 

Let us return to Utatlan, and follow for a while the 
fortunes of the Quiches. Under brave kings their bounds 
had extended, and towns, tribes, and nations were com- 
pelled to acknowledge the kings of Utatlan as their 
lieges. In all this external prosperity, internal dissen- 
sions arose ; and the plebs, incited by demagogues, de- 
manded privileges which the king, Quicab, was compelled 
to grant after the palaces of the nobles had been sacked 
by the mob. Another more serious trouble arose from 
this mob-rule. It was the custom for the rulers of the 
conquered tribes to reside at court at least a part of the 
year ; and the two kings of the Cakchiquels, Huntoh and 
Vucubatz, were visiting Quicab, when a street-riot, of 

1 Among the curious illustrations in the Kingsborough Collection are coats 
of armor belonging to the nobles, consisting of a shirt of simple body-form, 
embroidered or painted with various devices. With these are helmets, some- 
times of conical shape, but frequently in form of animal heads. 



m THE OLDEN TIME. 259 

no importance in itself, turned the mob against the 
Cakchiquels, and they loudly called upon Quicab to 
surrender the Cakchiquel kings to their fury. The 
wise old king warned these of their danger, and ad- 
vised them to retire to Iximche, or Tecpan Quauhte- 
malan. They did so, and this city became their capital. 
Now the fortunes of the Cakchiquels wax, while those 
of the Quiches wane. The new capital is fortified, 
and its inhabitants prepare for the strife evidently 
impending. 

The first attack is made by the Quiches, who are 
beaten, and for a few years remain quiet. Their king 
Quicab dies, and Tepepul II., the ninth king, reigns with 
Iztayul III. The kings of the Cakchiquels were now 
Oxlahuhtzi and Cablahu-Tihax, under whose reign a fam- 
ine, caused by unusual cold, troubles the capital. The 
Quiches saw a chance again to subdue their rebellious 
vassals, and an army was gathered, which with great 
pomp set out from Utatlan, carrying the god Tohil 
with it. A deserter from the Quiche army warned the 
kings of Iximche of their peril, and they bravely pre- 
pared for the contest. In the Cakchiquel Chronicle 
we have this description of the battle : — 

" As soon as the dawn began to brighten the mountain- 
tops the war-cries were heard, standards were unfurled, 
drums and conchs resounded, and in the midst of this 
clamor the rapidly moving files of the Quiches were seen 
descending the mountains in every direction. 

a j^^j-riyed at the banks of the stream that runs by the 
suburbs of the city, they occupied some houses and formed 
in battle under the command of the kings Tepepul and 
Iztayul. 



260 GUATEMALA. 

" The encounter was awful and fear-inspiring. The 
war-cries and the clangor of the martial instruments stu- 
pefied the combatants, and the heroes of both armies made 
use of all their enchantments. Notwithstanding, after a 
little the Quiches were broken, and confusion entered 
their ranks. The most of their army fled without fight- 
ing, and the losses were so great that they could not be 
calculated. Among the captives were the kings Tepepul 
and Iztayul, who surrendered, together with their god 
Tohil, the Galel-achi and the Ahpop-aclii, grandfather and 
son of the keeper of the royal jewels, the die-cutter, the 
treasurer, the secretary, and plebeians without number ; 
and all were put to the sword. Our old men tell us, my 
children, that it was impossible to count the Quiches who 
perished that day at the hands of the Cakchiquels. Such 
were the heroic deeds with which the kings Oxlahuhtzi 
and Cablahu-Tihax, also Roimox and Rokelbatzin, made 
the mountain of Iximche forever famous." 

After this defeat the Quiche kings appear in history 
only as names, — of which seven, including two appointed 
by the Conquistadores, complete the list. Dull as was 
their decline, their ending was brilliant ; and none of the 
people of Central America made such a brave struggle 
for independence as this grand old tribe. 

Other nations occupied portions of Gruatemala ; and 
before we follow the course of the Cakchiquels we may 
consider some of these. In Soconusco were several bands 
of Tultecs who had left the Aztec plateau, and in course 
of time were attacked by Olmecs and reduced to the most 
abject slavery. At last this became unbearable, and by 
the advice of their priests they decided to emigrate ; and 
under sacerdotal guidance they journeyed twenty days 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 261 

along the Pacific coast, until they came to the Rio Micha- 
toya, where the priest who had led them sickened and 
died. The delay and uncertainty this event caused re- 
sulted in the foundation of Itzcuintlan (Escuintla) by 
some who were weary of the journey. The greater part 
went on tw^enty leagues farther ; and here came another 
halt, half remaining there at Cuscatlan (San Salvador) 
and Xilopanco (Ilopango), while the others went on to 
the Gulf of Conchagua, on the bounds of Honduras and 
Nicaragua. These people were called Cholutecas, or 
Exiles, and their descendants Pipiles. 

The Cakchiquels soon got into trouble with a branch 
of their own people, — the Akahales, who occupied the 
country between the Volcan de Pacaya and the Lago de 
Izabal. The king of the Akahales was Ychal-amoyac, — 
a brave and wealthy man, whose capital, Holum, rivalled 
Tecpan Quauhtemalan. His wealth was coveted by the 
victorious Cakchiquels, and he was summoned to their 
court. Warned of the impending fate, he obeyed the 
summons, accompanied only by five of his friends. As 
they entered the audience chamber, in the very presence 
of the two kings the unfortunate Akahales were assassi- 
nated. Their riches were seized, and their towns quietly 
incorporated into the Cakchiquel kingdom. 

Although the Akahales seem to have submitted with- 
out fighting, some of the neighboring tribes saw with 
concern this lawless act of the powerful kings of Tecpan, 
and felt that their turn might come next. Wookaok, 
king of the Atziquinihayi, whose country bordered on the 
Lago de Atitlan, and Belehe-Gih, a mountain cacique on 
the borders of Quiche, became leaders ; and the former 
intrenched himself in a strong fortress which the Cak- 



262 GUATEMALA. 

chiquels besieged for fifteen days, and on its fall they put 
to the sword the entire garrison. 

Now the Cakchiquels were by far the most important 
of the ruling tribes of Central America, and it was near 
the close of the fifteenth century. The white men had 
already landed on the coast of America, and the history 
of the tribes was hastening to a close. Insurrections 
here, treasons and plots there, make the substance of 
what there is to tell. The attempt of Cay-Hunahpii to 
incite rebellion shook the kingdom, but failed in the end. 
Revolutions gradually loosed the feudal chains that bound 
the subject tribes, and several of them proclaimed their 
independence. Chief among these were the Sacatepequez, 
who chose a king from their own tribe with the title 
Achi-Calel, and the capital of their kingdom was Yampuk ; 
only three kings reigned, until the Conquest. The Po- 
komans from Cuscatlan came to Sacatepequez seeking 
land, and they were well provided with lands and settle- 
ments by the Sacatepequez, that they might not ally 
themselves with the hated Cakchiquels. 

In 1510 the king of the Cakchiquels, Oxlahuhtzi, died, 
and the next year his colleague, Cablahu-Tihax, died 
also ; and Hunig and Lahuh Noh succeeded their fathers. 
Their reign was remarkable for an embassy sent by 
Montezuma to the kings of Central America. What the 
object of the Mexicans may have been, the Chronicles do 
not explain. Fuentes supposes that not Montezuma, but 
the eighth Mexican king Ahuitzotl was the one who tried 
to communicate with his southern neighbors. Certainly 
this king carried his arms as far as Nicaragua along the 
shores of the Pacific Ocean ; but there is no proof that he 
ever penetrated the interior of Guatemala. Whatever 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 263 

the ambassadors wanted, whether conquest or an alli- 
ance agamst the commg invaders, they met with poor 
success. At Utatlan the Quiche king refused to listen 
to them, on the excuse that he could not understand 
what they said. They went thence to Tecpan, where 
they found a better reception ; but we do not hear that 
they made any treaty. When they came to the chiefs of 
Atitlan they were driven away by arrow-shots ; and they 
retreated to Utatlan, when the king warned them to 
leave his capital that very day, and the country within 
twenty suns. This is the only record we have of any 
communication between Mexico and Guatemala before 
the famous march of Cortez. 

In Utatlan Vahxaki-Caani and Quicab were kings when 
a Cakchiquel wizard, who some say was the king's son, 
came by night to the palaces of Utatlan and yelled and 
shouted so that the poor kings could not sleep ; and as 
bootjacks were not yet invented, they had to listen to 
this ancient tomcat, who, when they put their heads out 
of the window, called them mama-caixon and other dread- 
fully opprobrious epithets. Next day the king called 
together all his wizards and offered large rewards for the 
capture of the nocturnal enemy. A Quiche wizard under- 
took the task, and chased the foreigner a long time, both 
jumping from mountain to mountain. At last he cap- 
tured the Cakchiquel and brought him before the royalty 
he had insulted. When asked if he had made the horrid 
noises at night, he replied that he had. " Then," said th6 
king, " you shall see what a festival we will make with 
you." Then the nobles began a war-dance to celebrate 
the capture of that wizard, and transforming themselves 
into eagles, lions, and tigers, they danced around and 



264 GUATEMALA. 

clawed the poor Indio. All things being ready for his 
execution, he turned to the king and all the others, 
crying, " Wait a bit, until you hear what I wish to say 
to you. Know that the time is at hand when you will 
despair at the calamities which are to come upon you, 
and that inama-caixon must die ; and know that some 
men clothed — not naked like you — from head to foot, 
and armed, men terrible and cruel, sons of Teja, will 
come, perhaps to-morrow, perhaps the next day, and will 
destroy all these palaces, and will make them dwellings 
for the owls and wildcats, and all the grandeur of this 
court shall pass away." When he had spoken they sac- 
rificed him, and paid little attention to his prophecy. 
Warring here and there, suffering defeat seldom, but 
troubled with diseases and epidemics, a plague came at 
last which nearly depopulated the city of Tecpan, and 
was especially fatal among the nobility, both kings 
dying. So great was the mortality that there was not 
time to bury the dead, and they were often left to 
the vultures. 

When this scourge had passed, Achi-Balam and Belehe- 
Qat were called to the throne, and during their reign came 
the news of the terrible work of the Spaniards in Mexico. 
These young kings decided to send an embassy to the 
mighty chief of the invaders, begging his protection and 
aid against their enemies. We have to-day the letter of 
Cortez to Charles V., dated in Mexico, Oct. 16, 1524, de- 
scribing this embassy of Guatemalans to surrender their 
country and countrymen to the foreign devils who had 
destroyed their neighbors beyond the forests of the 
North. One almost feels that these wretched Cakchi- 
quels deserved the miseries they brought upon them- 



m THE OLDEN TIME. 265 

selves. Whether by any combination the tribes of 
Central America could have resisted the invaders, as 
did the Lacandones, no man can say. Probably their 
time had come, and no hmiian or divine influence could 
change the event ; but it is sad to see these many tribes, 
while the storm was gathering over their devoted heads, 
fighting among themselves in the most headstrong way : 
and so they fought until the coming of Pedro Alvarado. 
Guatemala held three hostile camps, — the Quiches at 
Utatlan ; the Cakchiquels at Iximche or Tecpan Quauhte- 
malan ; and the Tzutohiles at Atitlan. 

December 6, 1523, the greatest general and most trusted 
friend of Cortez, Pedro de Alvarado, departed from the 
City of Mexico at the head of three hundred infantry (of 
whom one hundred and thirty were archers and gunners), 
and one hundred and twenty cavalry. He took four small 
cannon, in which were used stone balls, forty reserve 
horses, and his native allies were two hundred Tlaxcal- 
tecas and one hundred Mexicans, besides a large number 
of ilamenes to carry the baggage. With this warlike array 
went two ministers of the Prince of Peace, Juan Godinez 
and Juan Diaz. The conquest of Guatemala was the end 
to be attained. 

Alvarado marched south to Soconusco, and here met his 
first opponents. Unlike the contemptible Cakchiquels, 
the brave Quiches would make no terms with the invaders 
of their country, and as the Spaniards approached they 
hastened to join the men of Soconusco, and near Tonala 
fought their first battle with the white men. The Indies 
were utterly routed ; but they fell back and made prepara- 
tions for a greater struggle. Oxib-Queh was then Ahau- 
Ahpop of the Quiches, and his fellow-king or Ahpop-Camha 



266 GUATEMALA. 

was Beleheb-Tzi ; Tecum-Umam and Tepepul were the 
other principal chiefs. Tecum, as commander-in-chief of 
the army, designated Chuvi-Megena (Totonicapan) as the 
rendezvous of the Quiche forces. His army was immense 
(the annalists make it equal to the enrolled army of Ger- 
many !) ; but no one knows the exact number of naked 
soldiers he brought together. 

After the victory at Tonala, Alvarado marched inland 
towards Zapotitlan, the capital of Suchitepequez ; and as 
he approached the city, sent some spies he had captured 
in the mountains with friendly messages to their chiefs. 
No answer, either good or bad, was returned, but a battle 
was fought on the Rio Tilapa, and again the Spaniards 
were victorious. Some of the inhabitants of Zapotitlan 
called from a distance to the invaders and invited them to 
come into the city ; but Alvarado preferred to choose his 
own time, and the Indios again attacked him. Desperately 
fighting, they were constantly driven back, and the in- 
vaders trampled over their bodies even through the streets 
of the city and for half a league beyond, where the battle 
ended ; and Alvarado returned to the city and camped in 
the market-place. More like hungry locusts than human 
beings, these land-pirates went on destroying army after 
army in a way that is painful to read about. On the 
plains of the River Olintepec so great was the slaughter 
of the Indios that the stream was colored for days with 
their blood. The loss of the Spaniards was only a few 
men and horses wounded. 

Tzakaha was occupied without resistance, and the Mex- 
ican allies changed the name to Quezaltenango. Under 
a canopy of branches the ambassadors of the Prince of 
Peace offered sacrifice to the god of battles. Here at the 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 267 

first mass celebrated in Guatemala these blood-stained 
murderers knelt. No wonder that the priests have in their 
turn been driven from the country ! 

Xelahuh was found deserted, and here Alvarado rested 
three days to remove the rusting blood from his arms. 
Then came the news that another Quiche army (Alvarado 
writes to Cortez that it was composed of twelve thousand 
men from Utatlan and countless numbers from the neigh- 
boring towns) was approaching ; and the Spaniards 
marched out to meet them on the magnificent plain be- 
tween Quezaltenango and Totonicapan. This was the 
decisive battle, and marvellous are the Indian legends 
gathering around it. Over the head of Tecum, the Quiche 
commander, hovered a gigantic quetzal (the nagual of the 
chief), who savagely attacked the Spanish general. At 
last the Spanish lance killed the bird, and at the same 
moment the unfortunate Tecum fell lifeless at the feet of 
the Conquistador. 

In his report to Cortez, Alvarado writes : " That day I 
killed and captured many people, many of them captains 
and persons of rank." 

All the prisoners taken in this war (both men and 
women) were branded on the cheek and thigh and sold 
as slaves at public auction, a fifth of their price belonging 
to the King of Spain. 

The last army of the noble Quiches being destroyed, and 
their utmost efforts being unavailing to turn aside the de- 
stroyers of their country, it is not difiicult to imagine the 
terror in Utatlan or the hurried counsels of the two kings. 
In desperation they decided to sacrifice their city, if they 
might destroy at the same time these invincible Spaniards. 
The enemy was to be lured within the walls, and the only 



268 GUATEMALA. 

two means of entrance closed, and then the thatched and 
wooden roofs were to be fired, and so the nnprisoned 
enemy destroyed. It was an effective plan, and might 
have been successful with a less wary general than Alva- 
rado. He discovered the plot after he had entered Utatlan ; 
but feigning friendship, he managed to get out of the city 
on the plea that his horses could not bear the paved 
streets, and the next morning begged the honor of a visit 
from the two kings. Oxib-Queh and Beleheb-Tzi came 
with a considerable retinue of nobles, and Alvarado re- 
ceived them with pretended friendship. When all the 
preparations were made, a party of soldiers loaded the 
guests with chains, and then their host bitterly reproached 
them (the poor heathen) for their plot. By a court-mar- 
tial they were condemned to be burned alive. This hor- 
rible sentence was carried out, and during Holy Week, 
April, 1524, the last legitimate sovereigns of the most 
powerful nation in Central America perished in the flames. 
Bishop Marroquin named the city that succeeded Utatlan, 
Santa Cruz (holy cross), because the Indian capital was 
captured on Good Friday ! 

Alvarado wrote to Cortez : " That I might bring them 
to the service of His Majesty, I determined to burn 
the lords ; • • • and for the well-being and peace of this 
land I burned them [yo los queme), and commanded 
their city to be burned and razed to its foundations." 

The scattered Quiches, driven to fury by the awful 
death of their beloved monarchs, fought to the death ; 
and Alvarado was obliged to despatch messengers to 
Iximche to demand aid from his Cakchiquel allies, who 
hastened to send four thousand warriors to crush the 
bleeding remains of their ancient rivals. 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 269 

The reception of the Spaniards at Iximche, the fights 
with the Tzutohiles, and the destruction of Atitlan, 
seem tame enough after the martyrdom of the Quiches, 
the sole defenders of their country. Henceforth the 
rebellions and battles are only outbursts against indi- 
vidual oppression. Many tribes followed the Cakchiquel 
example, and submitted without a struggle. Itzcuintlan 
(Escuintla) refused ; but the Spaniards entered the city 
on a stormy night and murdered most of the inhabi- 
tants. Alvarado marched to San Salvador in spite of 
considerable unorganized opposition, and returned to 
Iximche, where he founded on the 25th of July the 
capital of the kingdom of Guatemala, claiming as 
patron Santiago (Saint James) of Spain. This was 
afterwards removed to Almolonga (Ciudad Vieja). 

While in Iximche, Alvarado showed his foolish Indian 
allies what his true character was. One of the chiefs 
of the Cakchiquels had just espoused the beautiful prin- 
cess Xuchil ; but the lustful eye of the Conquistador 
had fallen on her, and he sent for her on the pretext 
that he wished to consult her about the people to the 
southward whom he intended to subdue. The husband 
in well-grounded alarm begged the general, with tears 
in his eyes, to return his beloved wife, offering with his 
petition a rich present of gold and ornaments. "But 
the proud and hard-hearted Spanish knight, who thought 
he did honor by his passion for the bride of a Cak- 
chiquel prince, as he had done in Mexico with the 
daughter of one of the lords of Tlaxcala, accepted the 
present, but refused with disdain the prince's petition." 
Again Alvarado called upon the kings of Iximche, Bel- 
ehe-Qat and Cahi-Ymox, to bring him all the gold and 



270 GUATEMALA. 

silver they possessed, even to the royal insignia ; and to 
emphasize his demand he snatched from the wretched 
kings their earrings, so that they shed tears at the 
physical pain. " If within five days all your gold is 
not here, woe be unto you ! I know well my heart ! " 
The kings, advised by a native priest, decided to leave 
the city with their wives and children, and they reso- 
lutely refused to return when Alvarado sent friendly 
messages and promises to them. Then the Spaniards 
began a war of extermination and slavery against 
the Cakchiquels, and the Quiches and Tzutohiles now 
took the side of the invaders against their hereditary 
enemies. All this destruction and misery had come 
upon Guatemala in one year, 1524. When the tribes 
were conquered, one by one, their sufferings only com- 
menced ; for so terrible was the slavery to which the 
Indian population of Guatemala was reduced that death 
was welcomed by the sufferers, and the Quiche nobles 
refused to rear children to serve their conquerors. 

I do not care to follow the history of Guatemala 
under Spanish rule ; it would be no pleasure excursion 
through the sloughs of deceit and over mountains of 
tyranny. Priests and soldiers vied with each other in 
iniquity ; and the Indios, then as now, seem to have 
been the most moral part of the population. 

In closing this long chapter on the early j^eople of 
the kingdom, I would call the attention of my readers 
to the present Indians of Guatemala and their rela- 
tionship, according to Dr. Otto Stoll. This learned 
ethnologist classifies the Indios mainly by language 
rather than by physical data, and I am myself seep- 




ETHNOGRAPHIC 
CHART OF 

G U A T E M A. L A, 
AFTER OTTO STOLL. 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 271 

tical of the value of linguistic distinctions. I know 
Bengalis who speak English most perfectly, and I can 
well imagine their losing their mother-tongue from 
disuse or disassociation with their brethren; but the 
Bengali does not thus become an Anglo-Saxon. I be- 
lieve very little stress should be put on lingual rela- 
tionships ; and also do I protest against any system of 
classification founded on the cranium alone : the whole 
body, outer integuments as well as osseous frame, must 
be called in witness ; and one day perhaps the study of 
human proportions and physical peculiarities will result 
in a classification in which language plays no part, or 
at least a very subsidiary one. In the mean time let 
us take the chart of the Swiss professor as the best 
thing we have at present. The nineteen tribes or fam- 
ilies Dr. Stoll names as follows, and their location 
is indicated by the numbers on the chart : — 



1. Mam. 


6. Quekchi. 


11. Cakchiquel. 


16. 


Chorti. 


2. Ixil. 


7. Choi. 


12. Pipil. 


17. 


Alaguilac 


3. Aguacateca. 


8. Mopan. 


13. Sinca. 


18. 


Maya. 


4. Uspanteca. 


9. Quiche. 


14. Pupukica. 


19. 


Carib. 


5. Poconchi. 


10. Tzutohil. 


15. Pokomam. 







Of the Aztec stem, onl}^ the Pipiles (12) are found in 
Guatemala. They are probably the descendants of the 
Tultecs, who were subdued by the Olmecs. Of the Mije 
stem are the small tribe of Pupulucas (14). The Carib- 
bean stem is represented on the coast by the Caribs (19) ; 
and of these so many differing accounts have been given 
that I am tempted to give a fuller description. 

When the West Indies were discovered, they were peo- 
pled by several races ; but among them none were so formi- 
dable as the inhabitants of the southern islands of that 



272 



GUATEMALA. 



sea, now called, from their supposed name, Caribbean. The 
Caribs dwelt also in the valley of the Orinoco ; but seldom 
chose their home far from the sea. They were understood 
to have the habit of eating their fellow-men ; and it is from 

a corruption of Caribal 
that we have the oppro- 
brious term " cannibal." 
Whether they did limit 
their diet to the orthodox 
fare or not, is by no means 
clear ; for the Spanish con- 
querors did not scruple to 
indict, condemn, and put 
to death the innocent na- 
tives who opposed them, 
— and no stouter oppo- 
nents than the Caribs did 
they find. Two distinct 
tribes are generally in- 
cluded under the name, — 
the black Caribs, and the 
yellow: the latter with 
straight black hair; but 
the former are no doubt 
the mixed breed of the true 
Carib (who w^as generally 
at war with the European 
intruder) and the African slaves who escaped to the pro- 
tection of the aborigines from their tyrannical masters. 
In 1796 England removed these troublesome people from 
St. Vincent to Roatan, — one of the Bay Islands off the 
coast of HonduraSj whence they gradually emigrated to 




Carib Woman. 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 2^3 

the mainland; and now their villages are found from 
Belize to Cape Gracios a Dios. 

All along this coast they are of distinct and uniform 
character, to the casual observer differing little from the 
negro type ; of good stature, firm, muscular build, and 
powerful limbs, — women as well as men. To one who 
is used to study the physical character of men, the out- 
ward resemblance to the negro is less marked. The hair 
is woolly ; but the nose is less flattened, the mouth not so 
wide, nor are the lips so thick. The shoulders are broad, 
but so are the hips ; and the narrow pelvis of the African 
is generally wanting. The fingers have large joints, and 
from the last all the fingers, but especially the thumb, 
taper sharply to the end. The heel is not so projecting, 
and the feet are very broad. Other differences are of 
interest to the student of the human form rather than to 
the public. 

Almost all speak some English, — seldom using the 
baby-talk of the negro, but not always conforming to the 
correct idiom ; more familiar still with Spanish, they 
always use their own language in conversation with each 
other. Several grammars and vocabularies of the dialects 
spoken by these islanders and by their namesakes in 
South America have been published (as may be seen in 
the list of books given in the Appendix), but I have not 
studied this language enough to learn the difference, if 
any, between the speech of the yellow and the black tribes. 
The Caribbee has a disagreeable sound, — perhaps by con- 
trast to the Spanish ; but the syllables her and hub are 
frequent, and the enunciation is exceedingly rapid, mak- 
ing it very difficult for an alien to catch the words. Add 
to this the curious fact that the men and women speak 

18 



274 



GUATEMALA. 



Man. 


Woman. 


yumaan 


nucuxili 


ixanum 


nucuxum 


macu, imulu 


nirajo 


niananti 


nirajo 


tubana 


tujouoco 


nonum 


cati 


ibuguia 


(?) 



a distinct language, and the obstacles a learner meets are 
important. To illustrate, here are a few of the man 
and woman words : — 

Father . 
Mother 
Son . 
Daughter 
House . 
Earth . 
Brother 

The traveller becomes familiar with such expressions as 
Igaryhai, " let it alone;" Burdba duna m«, "bring me 
water ; " Kimoi, " let us go ; " Fagai, " paddle ; " Mawer, 
" Lord ! " III hj, "■ I don't know," — pronounced with a 
contemptuous nasal twang that would outdo the veriest 
Yankee. 

Talkative beyond measure, it is difficult to quiet 
them in camp at night, unless they have had a hard 
day's work. Good-natured when well treated, they 
have a very good opinion of themselves, and their self- 
love is easily disturbed. Superstitious to an extreme, 
they are not in public very religious; but there are 
strange stories told of human sacrifices in which a child 
was the victim. I have noticed that they put a rude 
cross on the window and door openings of an unfinished 
house to keep out the devils. When becalmed in a dory 
with Caribs, I have often heard the prayer : — 

" Sopla, San Antonio, barba de oro cacJiimbade plata! 
Blow, Saint Antony, with golden beard and silver pipe ! " 

And if the saint did not blow when asked repeat- 
edly, the next proceeding was to make a cross of 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 



275 



sticks and tow it astern ; this last performance, like 
reading the Lord's Prayer backwards, usually raised 
a breeze. The worship of Mafia (the devil) I believe 
is general ; but they do not like to talk about it. Caribs 
are less musical than any of the black races I have 
met ; but they are fond of noisy drums, and will dance 
until utterly exhausted. Some of their dances last two 
days. 




Indian Women, Pocomann Tribe. 



Of all the languages of Central America, no one has 
been more studied than the Maya. It is the language of 
Yucatan, and there many foreigners both speak and read 
it. In Guatemala it is the parent tongue of the great 
majority of the tribes, including the Quiches, Cakchiquels, 



276 



GUATEMALA. 



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IN THE OLDEN TIME. 



277 



and Tzutohiles, — those long-time enemies. The reader 
may see by the table of words I borrow from Dr. Berendt 
the similarity of certain common words in sixteen of 
these dialects. 

The Lacandones, those unconquered Indios of the Usu- 
macinta, speak a dialect cognate with that spoken in 
Yucatan, Campeche, and the sacred island Cozumel ; and 
what gives additional interest to the Maya language is the 
fact that all the inscribed monuments of Tikal, Copan, 
Quirigua, and Usumacinta belong to this race, and if 
interpreted, this is probably the key. 

The Quekchi language (6) is spoken by the Indios of 
Coban Cahabon, Senaju, and adjoining parts of Alta 
Verapaz, while close at hand (San Cristobal, Tactic, Tu- 
curu, La Tinta, and Teleman) we have the Poconchi form. 
Externally both tribes are alike, although the Quekchis 
perhaps dress rather better. 

The extant literature of the Quiches has been freely 
consulted in the preparation of this chapter. Would my 
readers like to see what the original language of the 
" Popul Vuh " is like ? 



Are u xe oher tzih varal Quichbe 
11 bi. 

Varal xchekatzibah, xchikatiqiba 
vi oher tzih, u tiqaribal, u xenabal 
puch ronohel xban pa 'tinamit 
Quiche, r'amag Quiche vinak. 



This is the beginning of the story 
of those who were formerly iu the 
land that is called Quiche. 

There begins and commences 
the knowledge of the earlier time, 
the origin and beginning of all 
done in the Quiche state in the 
home of Quiche men. 



Uspantan has a little dialect all to itself (4). Of 
the Cakchiquel language we have a most interest- 
ing remnant in the " Cakchiquel Manuscript," next in 



278 GUATEMALA. 

importance to the '^ Popul Vuh." In it the account 
of the creation is copied, as was natural, from the 
Quiche narrative; but the main portion of the work is 
a history of the revolution which led to the departure 
from Utatlan and the occupation of Iximche, and also 
of the advent of the Spaniards and the subsequent events 
until the establishment of Christianity as the State re- 
ligion. The author was the grandson of the king who 
died of the pest in 1519 ; and his story goes to the 
year 1582, when another member of the same family 
continues it to 1597. 

The Tzutohiles (10), who, it will be remembered, were 
a fighting tribe on the shores of the Lago de Atitlan, 
are still of the same spirit ; and when Mr. Maudslay 
attempted to photograph them, the women shook their 
fists in his face. The unwillingness to be photographed 
I also found among the Quiche women (old ones) of 
Sacapulas ; but a word from the comandante subdued 
their opposition. 

The Ixils (1) dwell in the Sierras west of Coban, 
and the Mames (2) are found at San Marcos, Chi- 
antla, and Huehuetenango, all westward to Soconusco 
and south to Ocos. The Aguacateca (3) occupies a small 
space north of Utatlan, and the vocabulary given by 
Stoll differs entirely from that of Dr. Berendt's already 
quoted. Chorti (16) is spoken at Chiquimula and Za- 
capa, and in the opinion of some is the language of 
the sculptors of the glyphs at Copan. Sinca (13) and 
Alaguilac (17) are almost unknown, and Stoll cannot 
classify them. 

The personality of these tribes is wholly absent from 
Dr. Stoll's learned treatise ; and my own knowledge 



IN THE OLDEN TIME. 



279 



of their appearance and way of thought is too lim- 
ited to lead me to venture to fill the void. I have 
noticed what every one else speaks of, — the sober 




Mozos de Cargo, Quich6. 



bearing of the Guatemaltecan Indios ; but I have of- 
ten seen the face of my mozo de cargo brighten as 
I greeted him, and I have been even led to think that 
his mourning expression is worn much as civilized ladies 



280 GUATEMALA. 

wear their black, — to save themselves trouble. It is 
laid aside in the family, or with a friend they can trust. 
Many of the men are well formed, although small, and 
their faces are often very attractive. I believe them to 
be neater in their persons and garb than the ladino 
population. 



Carved stone Seat (Museo Nacional). 



CHAPTER X. 



THE EEPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 



FOR almost three centuries Spain governed Central 
America (1524-1821) by the Audiencia Real. Every 
act of oppression that could be exercised upon the Indios 
was invented by the foreign rulers, and the native popu- 
lation was greatly reduced by this mismanagement ; but 
such a course always re- 
acts most terribly upon 
the perpetrators. The 
thirst for wealth that 
brought the foreigners 
to these shores pursued 
them still, and the brave 
resistance to wrongs un- 
limited, that the Span- 
iards themselves chron- 
icle, does not seem to 
have awakened that re- 
spect in the bosoms of the Conquistadores that it now 
rouses in the heart of every generous student of the past. 
The Indios were lawful prey, it was " spoiling the Egyp- 
tians ; " and although Las Casas and some of the mission- 
aries tried faithfully to protect their flock, and although 
the King of Spain made decrees, the powers of evil 
seemed to have their own way in this distant colony. 




Arms of Guatemala. 



282 GUATEMALA. 

We cannot but admire the undoubted courage and in- 
difference to personal hardship exhibited by the Conquis- 
tadores ; but that must not blind us to the fact that they 
were little better than freebooters in their treatment of 
the American nations they subdued, and that their policy, 
so far as they had any, was of the most selfish and narrow 
kind. Jealousy of other nations, especially of England, 
who was now beginning to try her hand in ruling the sea, 
although in a rather irregular way, led to the establish- 
ment of all the important cities in the mountain region 
of the interior, where they might well escape the notice 
of other nations. The natural walls that Nature had 
provided were made very useful to their utmost extent ; 
the ports were but conveniences to help the invaders to 
supplies from the mother-country and afford a necessary 
means for the exportation of their ill-gotten gains, and 
general commerce was discouraged in every way. The 
buccaneers helped to discourage the growth of ports, but 
the Home Government did quite as much in this direction. 
The atrocious system of encomiendas, by which the native 
population was reduced to an almost hopeless slavery, was 
permitted, if not encouraged, by the Church, and no attempt 
was ever made to develop the country on a basis of im- 
provement in the Indian population ; and the animal, 
vegetable, and mineral wealth of Guatemala were treated 
much in the same way, — a prey for the present robber. 
The Indios were all subdued, except the Lacandones far 
on the northern frontier, who were too poor to pay for sub- 
jugation ; and the iniquitous policy of selfishness began to 
bear fruit. Unlimited powder and immunity in the hands 
of the clergy begot intolerance. The shepherds became 
the wolves, and not only devoured their own flocks, but 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 283 

the entire country as well. Monopolies, corruption, op- 
pression grew like true tropical vegetation, until the air 
became too close for healthful life ; and then came the fer- 
mentation. Uprisings of the Indios had occurred before the 
death of Alvarado (1541), — for example, the brave attempt 
of the Cacique Lempira in Honduras ; but these rebellions 
were all crushed by the iron hand of the Adelantado and 
by his generals. Now came the low murmur of a rising 
tempest over the land, and the winds were blowing from 
a different quarter of the heavens. Now the ruling caste 
was uneasy, and it was about to reap the inevitable har- 
vest of the wind it had sowed. 

Not in the province of Guatemala, not at the seat o£ 
the Audiencia Eeal, but on that disturbed strip of land 
along the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and San Salvador, 
where earthquakes are on the most terrific scale, and 
volcanic vents bristle threateningly, appeared the first 
forcible remonstrances against this aged and encrusted 
tyranny. In 1811 there were risings, little pronuncia- 
mentos ; but there was no combination to insure success. 
The false system of government taught a distrust of 
others ; selfishness permeated individual character as well 
as the nation at large ; and no man could put confidence 
in his neighbor. No leader appeared to unite the dis- 
cordant elements, the evolution of a free state was very 
slow, and at last was as much owing to the supine- 
ness of Spain as to any forceful act on the part of the 
provinces. We have here no war of freedom, no Wash- 
ington, no Bolivar. Sporadic murmurs were heard now 
and again ; they came to the ears of the people and set a 
few men to thinking ; the number of these thinkers grew, 
until in 1821 the then representative of Spain, Gavino 



284 GUATEMALA. 

Gainza, joined the rebels, — much as a disappointed politi- 
cian of the present day leaves his party for the camp of its 
opponents, — and independence was solemnly proclaimed, 
September 15, in Guatemala. Spain seems to have 
acquiesced in an act which deprived her of her fair 
American colonies ; but it may be supposed that her 
mismanagement had left little value in the possession. 

Three centuries of abasement had been a most inoppor- 
tune school for the freedom of a republic, and one cannot 
be surprised that the change was no easy one, or that the 
results have not, even after two generations, been all that 
the patriots among these first rebels may have wished. 
Subjectively, "Be thou fed " is very easy; but objectively 
the result seldom meets the command. Slavery was abol- 
ished forty years before the great Republic of the North 
dared to do that right ; but this eminently proper step 
was very embarrassing, for not only were there no means 
left for the forced repair of roads, bridges, and other 
means of intercourse, that in a tropical country need 
constant vigilance, but the commerce between town and 
town fell off, and the little traffic that had led a struggling 
existence for some years with Spain and other European 
countries now died out entirely, and the revenaes of the 
State were affected with an atrophy that crippled every 
attempt of the Government to improve the internal com- 
munications of the country. The clergy, who had perhaps 
made the freest use of forced labor, in covering the land 
with elaborate churches and convents that all the revenues 
of the Government of the present day could hardly keep 
in repair, felt aggrieved and uneasy. All was in transi- 
tion, and there were few wise men to guide the counsels. 
The stream was turbulent, and not easily kept within its 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 285 

proper channel. Is it wonderful that round blocks should 
be found in square holes under such circumstances ; or 
that the political equilibrium, all unstable, should turn to 
this signal disturbance or that, without much reason ? 

There were two parties, around which rallied oppos- 
ing elements, — the Conservative, Central, or Servile, as 
it was variously called, and the Federal, Liberal, or 
Democratic. To the former belonged the leading fami- 
lies, who possessed certain monopolies and feared to lose 
them ; the clergy, who with these few families held 
themselves for an aristocracy ; and a few of the lower 
classes, who from personal or religious feelings were 
satisfied with the existing order of things : and all these 
bitterly resisted any innovation, especially any attack 
upon the privileges of the Church. To the Liberals 
flocked all those who did not enjoy monopolies, and who 
could not be worse off under any change ; but there 
came to this standard also men of intellect, who saw 
the dangers which threatened their country, and who 
rejected the superstition into which the local Church had 
fallen, but who in their eagerness to hold up the ex- 
ample of the United States of the North to their newly 
emancipated countrymen, forgot the radical difference 
between the Anglo-Saxon and Spanish stock and train- 
ing. Then came in the feeling of race-prejudice ; and 
when one remembers that three quarters of the popu- 
lation was Indian, and that of the other quarter was 
composed the entire ruling class, it will perhajDs be a 
matter of surprise that more evil did not come from 
this threatening condition of affairs. If the Indies of 
Guatemala had not been the most peaceable and law- 
abiding of their kind known to history, they might have 



286 GUATEMALA. 

improved the opportunity to repay all the miseries in- 
flicted upon their ancestors. As it happened, they could 
at least be conscious of their power. 

With no fixed policy, the ancient States of the king- 
dom of Guatemala cut adrift from Spain. At one time 
all, except San Salvador, entertained the idea of union 
with the new Empire of Mexico under Iturbide, but they 
escaped that complication by the early collapse of the 
Mexican throne ; and at last, on the 1st of April, 1823, 
representatives of the States met in the City of Guate- 

v , and the Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, after 

.-, debates and many propositions, in which, as might 
be supposed, the Church party had no unimportant 
influence, a Federal Constitution was proclaimed on 
Nov. 24, 1824. 

Three years later the Vice-President, Flores, was mur- 
dered in Quezaltenango by a mob of female furies insti- 
gated, it is claimed, by the Church party, and his body 
was stripped and mutilated by the fiend-like women. 
This was done in the church as the wretched man clung 
to the altar, and it was done in the name of religion. 
The consequence immediately following was an abso- 
lute reign of ' religious fanaticism. San Salvador, how- 
ever, sent an army to restore order, and on March 16, 
1827, attacked the capital; but these troops of the Lib- 
eral party were driven back, and for two years a bar- 
ren warfare was kept up. In 1829 General Francisco 
Morazan led the Salvadoreiian army to Guatemala ; and 
now success attended the Liberals. After a battle last- 
ing three days they entered Guatemala City in triumph, 
banished the leaders of the Central party, and suppres- 
sed the convents. In 1831 Morazan was elected Presi- 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 287 

dent of the Republic or Confederacy, and for ten years 
his party held the government. It is not easy for a 
foreigner to get trustworthy information of the true 
value of Morazan's administration ; but while the man 
seems to have been patriotic and of excellent private 
character, he was not strong enough to control the 
warring elements around him. The Church was his 
bitter enemy ; and while it long endured the low estate 
to which the party in power had reduced it, there was 
no lack of grumbling, nor of even more active endea-' 
vors to find a champion. ,/er 

In the mean time an Indio of low birth ^ and whorf^re 
uneducated, but of great courage, had come into promi- 
nence as a leader of bands of marauding Indies. Rafael 
Carrera, young as he was, saw his advantage in the 
disturbed condition of his country, and after various 
defeats at the hands of the President, at last drove 
Morazan from Guatemala, and the Confederation came 
to an end (1839). 

Carrera favored the Church party, but had not the 
slightest intention of letting the Church rule him. He 
knew how to use it, and the clergy generally submitted 
gracefully. In all previous revolutions the defeated party 
had been banished, and so the State was kept unanimous 
— a condition that could not obtain now, because neither 
party had much real power left after the constant strug- 
gles of the past few years. It was while our countryman 
John L. Stephens, whose fascinating account of his travels 

^ Carrera was a servant in the family of the Marquis de Aycinena ; after- 
wards a drummer-boy in the regiment under his master's command. A pamphlet 
was published to prove that this young half-breed was a natural son of Ayci- 
nena. From the countenance as represented on the coins there is indication of 
Negro and Indian, rather than Spanish, blood in his parentage. 



288 



GUATEMALA. 



will always be a classic, was on a diplomatic mission to 
Central America that young Carrera was gathering his 
power, and it is to this distinguished traveller that 
most of the information about Carrera is due. Carrera, 
Fwidador de la Republica de Gkiatemala (Founder of 
the Republic), is the title he claimed on the coinage of 




Rafael Carrera. 



Guatemala during his administration ; and after a long 
reign — the word is used intentionally — he was able to 
designate his successor and die in his bed, while his chief 
antagonist, Morazan, after a most persevering struggle 
for the union of Central America, was shot by his un- 
grateful countrymen. The tomb of Carrera is in the 
metropolitan church in Guatemala City. 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 289 

On the death of Carrera, in 1865, Don Vincente Cerna 
succeeded to the Presidency ; but he did not possess the 
power over the Indios that Carrera held, and before his 
term of office had half passed, disturbances broke out on 
the northern frontier, where a man named Barrios had 
collected a gang of outlaws. This insurrection was sup- 
pressed, and Barrios executed ; he however left a successor 
in the person of Serapio Cruz, a very corpulent man, but 
for all that a typical brigand, who for some time waged 
a guerilla war from his mountain retreats, capturing the 
distilleries of aguardiente (then a Government monopoly), 
and destroying what he could not carry away. Joined 
to this enemy on the outskirts of the republic was a no- 
less disturbing element in the legislature in the person of 
Don Miguel Garcia Granados, who was most active in 
attacking the Government. As the Presidential term of 
Cerna ended, a rival in the political field, General Victor 
Zavala, seemed likely to be elected ; but by a close vote 
Cerna was re-elected. In 1869 a loan was negotiated 
in London which enabled the Government to pay its most 
pressing debts, and quiet was apparently secured. All 
this time, however, the insurgent Cruz was strengthening 
his band in the mountains, where he was joined by a man 
destined to hold the chief 'plsice in Guatemala, General J. 
Rufino Barrios ; and in December, 1869, the rebel army 
approached the capital. The city was in a most excited 
state, expecting pillage if not destruction, when the 
unexpected news came that the head of Cruz would 
soon be in the city. It was true ; a party of Indios had 
attacked and defeated the chief, and now brought his 
bleeding head to the President. This disagreeable trophy 
was photographed, and prints were sold in the shops for 

19 



290 GUATEMALA. 

fifty cents. The rebellion was over for the time, and 
Barrios fled to Mexico. President Cerna was very lenient 
to his enemies, and Granados was merely banished, and 
put under ten thousand dollars' bond not to return to 
Guatemala. 

Banished men are always dangerous, and Granados 
was no exception. Seeing his opportunity in some dis- 
satisfaction with the governmental policy, he invaded 
Guatemala, and was at once joined by General Barrios. 
The march from Mexican territory was almost a trium- 
phal procession, and on the plain between Quezaltenango 
and Totonicapan (the Esdraelon of Guatemala) the deci- 
sive battle was fought. Cerna could not trust his gene- 
rals, and so took the field in person. For a time the 
battle was with him ; but Barrios brought up his troops 
in good time, and the national army had to give way. 
President Cerna rallied his forces at Chimaltenango, only 
to be again defeated ; and after making a final stand at 
San Lucas, a small village between Antigua and Mixco, 
fled to Chiquimula, where he advised his followers to 
submit to the conquerors, while he went over into 
Honduras. 

On the 30th of June the "Army of Liberators" en- 
tered the capital, and Granados was proclaimed President 
pro teDipore. The new President found an empty treas- 
ury, and called upon the merchants for a loan. The 
authorities were very careful to say that this was not a 
forced loan ; but the method was very much of that cha- 
racter, for a list was made out of all the merchants in 
the city, and the proportion each one was thought capa- 
ble of paying set against his name. The "subscription 
paper " was then sent around, and few dared to refuse. 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 291 

No wonder that Central Americans do not wish to be 
thought rich or prosperous ! Granados was nominally 
President 3 but no one doubted that the man soon to become 
his successor was in reality acting in that capacity even 
then, although it was convenient for him to have Granados 
arrange the finances as well as the disturbed politics. 
Several reforms were proclaimed, as freedom of the 
press, and the abolition of the monopoly of distilling 
aguardiente. Before three months had passed, the clergy 
began to make trouble, and in September, 1872, the 
Archbishop and the entire Order of Jesuits were banished 
the republic for inciting insurrection at Santa Rosa. 
The San Franciscans, Capucins, and Dominicans were 
expelled the following year. This was briefly the story 
of the beginning of the reign of Barrios. 

On June 30, 1871, General J. Rufino Barrios was 
elected President of the independent republic that Carrera 
claimed to have founded ; and from that date Guatemala 
began to make real progress. His iron will determined 
that Guatemala should indeed be chief of all the Central 
American States, so that when the time came to renew 
the union of all the States, — a cherished scheme of 
Barrios, — there could be no question of her leadership. 
He so far succeeded that his country has undoubtedly 
made more material progress in the ten years of his 
administration than the other Central American Republics 
have made in half a century. 

Without going into even a brief history of the politics 
of the republic under Barrios, certain important acts 
must be mentioned, such as the adoption of a Consti- 
tution, Dec. 9, 1879, the expulsion of the Jesuits, the 
confiscation of much Church property and its appro- 



292 GUATEMALA. 

priation to the uses of public education, as well as for 
hotels and government offices, — acts which have greatly 
advanced this once priest-ridden country. I would not 
have it thought that in speaking of the sequestration of 
the churches and monasteries I undervalue the offices 
of religion, or am at variance with the particular branch 
of the Church whose property was so treated. Guatemala 
needs more religion, not less ; and could some of those 
pure and devoted priests of the Church of Eome whom 
I have rejoiced to meet in many a remote region, turn 
their energies to Central America, it would be well. 
It cannot, however, be too clearly stated that what was 
called the Church in these lands was a church for any 
other purpose than those truly religious men could ap- 
prove. The evidences of corruption are too clear to 
admit a doubt that the clergy had ceased to do the 
people any good : they failed to do their duty, in their 
eager struggle for temporal power ; and to-day the splen- 
did churches they built are in ruins, or left to the minis- 
trations of some itinerant priest. There are in Guatemala 
church edifices enough to contain the entire population, 
not a tenth part of which ever enters for worship, since 
the majority has been repelled rather than attracted by 
the unfaithful padres. 

The legislative power is in the Asamblea Nacional of 
Guatemala, which convenes on the 1st of March annu- 
ally ; and its ordinary sessions last only two months, 
although it may continue in session another month if 
necessary. Owing to the adoption of a code, the repub- 
lic is generally saved the " hayseed " law of the Northern 
legislatures and the "judge-made" law of the courts; 
and the work of the Asamblea is greatly lightened. The 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 293 

deputies who compose the Asamblea are elected on the 
basis of one for every twenty thousand inhabitants, or 
for a fraction exceeding one half of that number. Each 
is elected for a term of four years ; but the terms are so 
arranged that one half of the deputies is changed every 
two years. To these deputies the various Secretaries of 
State make formal reports regarding the matters usually 
contained in the President's Message to the Congress of 
the United States. 

The President of Guatemala is elected by direct popular 
vote for the term of six years ; and the Asamblea elects 
two persons to succeed him in turn, should he die or 
cease to act during the term for which he was elected. 
Profiting by the example of the older republic, Guatemala 
has rejected the farcical election still used in the North, 
where the people are supposed to elect electors to elect 
a President. The President appoints the following 
Secretaries of State : — 



Relaciones Exteriores . 
Gobernacion i Justicia . 
Hacienda y Credito Publico 

Guerra 

Fomento 

Instruccion Publica 



Foreign Affairs. 

Government and Justice. 

Treasury. 

War. 

Interior. 

Public Instruction. 



These officials, with nine Counsellors, form the Council 
of State. For the purposes of government the republic 
is divided into twenty-three Departments, which are sub- 
divided into sixty-one Districts. In these Districts are 
eleven cities {ciudades), thirty-two towns (villas), two 
hundred and ninety-nine villages [pueblos), fourteen hun- 
dred and six settlements (aldeas), fifty-nine shore ham- 
lets (easerios litorales), and three thousand seven 



294 



GUATEMALA. 



hundred and forty-two interior hamlets {easerios rurales). 
The Departments, with their chief towns, are as follows : 



Departments. 
Guatemala . 
Amatitlan . 
Escuintla 
Sacatepequez 
Chimaltenango 
Solola 

Totonicapan 
Suchitepequez 
Retalliuleu . 
Quezaltenango 
San Marcos . 
Huehuetenango 
Quiche . 
Santa Rosa . 
Jutiapa 
Jalapa . 
Chiquimula . 
Zacapa . 
Izabal . 
Livingston . 
Baja Verapaz 
Alta Verapaz 
Peten 



Chief Towns. 

Gruatemala (ciudad) 

Amatitlan ' ' 

Escuintla ' ' 

Antigua ' ' 

Chimaltenango (villa) 

Solola " 

Totonicapan (ciudad) 

Mazatenango (villa) 

Retalhuleu " 

Quezaltenango (ciudad) 

San Marcos " 

Huehuetenango ' ' 
Santa Cruz del Quiche (villa) 

Cuajinicuilapa " 

Jutiapa " 

Jalapa ' ' 

Chiquimula (ciudad) 

Zacapa (villa) 

Izabal (puerto) 

Livingston ' ' 

Salama (ciudad) 

Cohan " 

Sacluk (pueblo) 



The Executive appoints over each of these Depart- 
ments a Jefe politico, or civil governor; and, like the 
Secretaries of State, they must be men in whom he has 
implicit confidence. I may add that I met fifteen of 
these Jefes in the course of my journey, and found them, 
with two exceptions, men of character and intelligence, 
who would compare favorably with the governors of 
any of the Northern States ; nor is this surprising, since 
they are appointed for their fitness, and not elected, as 
the United States governors often are, by a handful of 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 295 

irresponsible politicians who use popular votes simply to 
forward their private ends. 

The organic law of Guatemala is the Civil, or Eoman. 
The code is the result of careful study and adaptation to 
the needs of the country, and not the result of the tink- 
ermg of village Solons and the decisions of wiseacre 
judges, as is that heterogeneous mass, amorphous and 
illogical, the common law. Wherever especial needs 
have arisen, the code has been supplemented by decretos 
conforming to the system. The judiciary is appointed, 
and the members hold office for four years. It cannot be 
denied that some of the lower judges are not always men 
of considerable legal attainments ; but it will be remem- 
bered that they do not usurp the legislative function, as 
is too often the case with judges under the common 
law. 

Although the country is of the Roman Catholic form 
of religion, the Constitution allows full liberty of worship 
to other sects, within their respective churches, but for- 
bids acts subversive of public order, or which might 
invalidate any civil or political obligations.^ Notwith- 
standing this liberty, there is, I believe, but one Protes- 
tant congregation worshipping in the republic. It seems 
that the offices of religion are used most by women and 
by the dying. Guatemala certainly cannot be called a 
religious community. The ruined churches, crumbling to 
dust and serving only as cemeteries of the dead, are 
monuments of a departed worship. Perhaps some day a 

1 " Art. 24. El ejercicio de todas las religiones, siii preeminencia alguna, 
queda garantizado en el interior de los ternplos; pero ese libre ejercicio no 
podra extenderse hasta ejecutar actos subversivos 6 practicas incompatibles con 
la paz y el orden publico, ni da derecbo para oponerse al cumplimiento de las 
obligaciones civiles y politicas." 



296 GUATEMALA. 

purer religion may rebuild these fair temples and call 
within their walls all the Guatemaltecan children of 
the Great Father, to be refreshed with new life and 
courage. 

In sad contrast with the religious life of Guatemala is 
the military vigor. It is difficult to obtain the exact 
statistics of the army, even in a time of peace ; but it is 
said that the standing army numbers twenty-five hun- 
dred rank and file, with eighty jefes and two hundred 
and fifty-three other officers, while the militia, including 
all males not physically exempt, between tlie ages of 
eighteen and fifty, amounted in 1883 to 49,835 men. 
Under control of the War Department are the police, 
street-lighting, and the Polytechnic School. While it is 
possible that the army does not cost so much in propor- 
tion to the population as in some of the other Central 
American republics, it is nevertheless a terrible drain 
upon the resources of the people, apart from the bad 
moral effect of a military life, as seen in all history. 
May the time soon come when this beautiful republic 
shall throw off the incubus and devote all her energies to 
the development of her vast resources ! 

I pass to a more agreeable theme, the foundation- 
stone of a republic, — public instruction. On Dec. 13, 
1879, President Barrios by decree established the present 
excellent system of compulsory and gratuitous elemen- 
tary education. Under this in the primary schools are 
taught reading, Spanish, knowledge of objects, writing 
and linear drawing, geography, history, morals, and po- 
liteness.^ For those who wish to go beyond these elements, 

^ " Lectura, nociones practicas de la lengua patria, conocimientos deobjectos, 
escritura y dibujo lineal, geografia e historia, moral y urbanidad." 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 297 

equally gratuitous facilities are afforded for learning Span- 
ish grammar, book-keeping, elementary natural history, 
geography, and history of Central America, and some other 
branches (complementary). 

In 1883 there were in Guatemala eight hundred and 
fifty primary schools, divided thus, — for boys, five hundred 
and forty ; for girls, two hundred and thirty-six ; mixed, 
sixteen ; artisans' evening-schools, forty-seven ; a Sunday- 
school for workmen, one also for women, and nine com- 
plementary schools. The attendance at these schools 
was 39,642 pupils, 27,974 males and 11,668 females; 
there were 735 male teachers, and 302 female teachers, 
wdiile the cost was $241,499.14, or $6.09 each pupil. 
These schools, scattered all over the republic, meeting 
sometimes in old convents or other confiscated church 
buildings, sometimes in the cabildo or in buildings espe- 
.cially provided, are visited and inspected frequently by 
suitable persons appointed by Government, who do the 
duty laid upon them far more intelligently than most of 
the New England school-committee men, — I have had 
experience of both. 

Teacliers' institutes are held in three places each year 
in November, and the teachers are expected to attend and 
gather what new matter or interest may be provided for 
them. As the Government appoints the teachers, it is 
responsible ; and I believe there is a general care among 
these teachers to keep well up to the requirements. 
Wisely, the schools are not overloaded, as are those in 
many Northern cities, with every conceivable subject; but 
the aim is to give every child the beginning of an elemen- 
tary education, which he can, if circumstances permit, 
greatly expand. 



298 GUATEMALA. 

There are also fifty-five private schools, with 1,870 
pupils costing f 84,154, of which the Government pays 
$4,944. 

The secondary instruction is given in several high 
schools or academies, of which the most important is the 
Instituto Nacional, Central de Hombres, in the City of 
Guatemala. The spacious buildings, formerly church 
property, well accommodate the physical and chemical 
laboratories, the meteorological observatory (the most 
complete in Central America), the zoological museum, 
mineral cabinet, and lecture-rooms, while within the 
courts is a good zoological garden. Besides the numerous 
class-rooms and offices are commodious dormitories pro- 
vided with iron bedsteads and kept in very neat order. 
The corps of instruction consists of a director and twenty- 
seven professors, and in 1883 there were two hundred 
and fifty-three boarders, and one hundred and thirty day 
pupils, with twenty-three pupils in the normal depart- 
ment, and eleven free pupils. The day-pupils pay a 
matriculation fee of $10 annually, and $3 for an exam- 
ination in each course. The institute costs $19,839.00, 
or $180.75 for each boarder, and $105.30 for each day- 
pupil. I have examined the work of the pupils, and 
found it very creditable, quite equal in many respects 
to that of the boys in the Latin and high schools of 
Boston. The girls are not neglected, although their 
instruction does not proceed to the extravagant lengths 
common in the eastern United States and in Englancl, 
where the endeavor is made to train the female in- 
tellect to the standard of the male, and so wholly unfit 
for the privileges of matrimony and maternity the un- 
fortunate girls who are subjected to such training. The 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 299 

Institute de Belen, Central de Senoritas, has a faculty of 
one preceptress and ten female teachers in charge of one 
hundred and twelve pupils, costing the nation $78,000. 
This school occupies an extensive building, with suitable 
cabinets and a gymnasium. A kindergarten is attached 
to this school. 

In Chiquimula is the Institute de Oriente, with one 
director, six professors, and thirty-three boys, nine board- 
ers, and fourteen day-pupils. More important than this 
is the Institute de Occidente, in Quezaltenango, with a 
director, twenty-two professors, and two hundred and 
twenty-one pupils. Cabinets of minerals and other nat- 
ural objects, a chemical laboratory and a meteorological 
observatory, help in the instruction. In the same city is 
a similar school for girls, with a preceptress {director a), 
eleven professoras, and eighty-two pupils. 

Professional instruction, which in the United States of 
the North is not deemed a part of the system of free pub- 
lic education, is here undertaken by the Government ; and 
four faculties are established to teach law {derecho y no- 
tariado), medicine and pharmacy, engineering, and phi- 
losophy and literature. Each of these faculties elects a 
dean, secretary, and four vocales who have charge of the 
courses of study and other matters peculiar to their 
branch, while the four directories {juntas directivas) 
form a council charged with the sole administration 
of the professional schools. Forty professors teach one 
hundred and thirty-three pupils at a cost of $24,903.96 
to the nation. The law claims forty-two pupils; med- 
icine, seventy ; engineering, eleven ; and literature, ten. 
Special instruction does not stop here, for there are 
also in the capital seven schools, costing $21,762.24, 



300 GUATEMALA. 

and teaching two hundred and forty-two pupils in the 
following branches : — 

Music and Oratoiy G6 pupils. 

Commerce 50 " 

Design 62 " 

Arts and Occupations 55 " 

A school for deaf-mutes has nine pupils. The Poly- 
technic School is under the direction of the Minister of 
War, and has eighty pupils. It is interesting to note that 
the system of marks in use in this institution has recently 
been adopted in Harvard University. 

While I am aware that a mere table of numbers, a cen- 
sus of pupils and teachers, even if illustrated with the 
courses pursued and the instruments for instruction, can- 
not convey to my readers a fair understanding of the re- 
sults accomplished by the system of public education in 
Guatemala, I may be permitted to say that I have for six 
years performed with attention my duties on the school- 
board of one of the largest cities in the North, and my 
interest in the subject of education led me to examine the 
schools of this Southern city, with constant comparisons 
with the type most familiar to me ; and the conclusion to 
which I arrived was that the system in Guatemala was 
excellently suited to the country and people, that the 
Government had done better than my own Government in 
the North, and if the results were not in every case all 
that could be desired, it was not the fault of schools or 
teachers. I have examined both public and private 
schools, containing both ladino and Indian children, and 
have found many well-instructed boys and girls, but never 
the execrable system of cramming so much in vogue at 
the North. I did not see the sallow, pimply, stooping, 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 301 

weak-eyed boys that form so large a minority of the pub- 
lic-school children at home. I am sure that if fewer 
" branches " are taught here, less ill-health results ; and I 
am quite ready to honor good health before mere book- 
learning. 

With some hesitation, I add to the means of education 
the modern newspaper. Before the election of Barrios 
there were but two official publications of this class, — "La 
Gaceta " and " La Semana," both proceeding from one pen, 
and the journal of the Sociedad Economica. Now there 
are in the capital four printing establishments, and the 
list of publications is a very respectable one. The official 
"El Guatemalteco " presents four times a week all official 
announcements, including the text of all public grants or 
contracts, — a plan which must place a check on extrava- 
gance or improper favoritism. " La Estrella de Guatemala," 
an independent daily ; "Diario de Centro- America," " La 
Gaceta de los Tribunales," twice a month ; " La Gaceta de 
los Hospitales," monthly; "El Horizonte " and "El En- 
say o," weekly, are published in the capital. In Quezalte- 
nango "El Bien Publico" is a well-written twice-a-week 
publication. In Mazatenango " El Eco de los Altos," 
twice a month ; in Antigua "' El Eco del Valle," daily ; in 
Chiquimula " El Oriental," weekly ; in Salama "' La' Voz 
del Norte," in Coban " El Quetzal," both weekly, have a 
considerable local circulation ; and during the session of 
the Asamblea full stenographic reports of the proceedings 
are published in the "Diario de las Sesiones." 

I cannot say much about the Guatemaltecan libraries, 
although not for the reason that made the chapter " On 
Serpents " in the History of Norway so famous. The 
national library is very small, and the treasures of manu- 



302 GUATEMALA. 

script whicli survived the ungentle hands of the early 
rulers have been so carelessly guarded that the choicest 
are now in foreign hands (French and German) ; and the 
printed volumes relating to the history of Central Amer- 
ica, or the publications of the native Press, are difficult to 
find. There are no important bookstores in Guatemala, 
and I had the greatest difficulty in obtaining a sight of 
Fuentes and Juarros, both of which I found only in 
private libraries. In an old curiosity shop a copy of 
Villagutierre Soto Mayor's " Historia de la Conquista de 
la Provincia de el Itza " was held at |50, or twice the 
price the old folio fetches in London. 

With no Coast or Interior Survey (except the temporary 
work of the Commission on the Northern Boundary), there 
are few scientific or historical publications issued by the 
Government. 

The debt of Guatemala is reported at a total (1885) of 
$5,817,947.19, drawing interest at six per cent. It is 
made up of the following items : — 

An English loan for which Guatemala be- 
came responsible in the clays of the 
Confederation $554,268.83 

An English loan of 1869 (by President 

Cerna) 3,599,771.75 

Government bonds in cu'culation (Interior 

debt) 1,663,906.61 

$5,817,947.19 

For the payment of the bonds of the Interior, a sink- 
ing-fund is provided, consisting of fifteen per cent of the 
duties on imports, the sums received for exemption from 
military service, etc. The average duties on imports are 
between fifty-five and sixty per cent ad valorem. 

Tbe income of the republic during the year 1882 was : 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 



303 



3% on real estate 
Road tax . 
Military tax 
Abated taxes . 



Direct Taxes. 

. . $103,886.05 

. . 34,830.85 

. . 13,925.17 

. . 4,132.56 



Duties on imports . 

Duties on exports . 

Harbor dues 

Stamped paper and stamps 

Impost on native flour . 

Impost on salt . 

Impost on legacies . 

Benefieio de Reses . 

5 % on transfers of real estate 

Tax for higher education 
Tax for municipios . 
Tax for police in the capital 
Tax for hospitals 
Telegraphs . 
Mails . 
Mint . . 
Fondos judiciales 

Excise on liquors 

Excise on tobacco 

Excise on gunpowder and 

saltpetre 



Indirect Taxes. 

$1,698,469.93 



66,685.36 
3,960.22 
114,221.57 
47,198.19 
27,454.58 
11,514.06 
99,964.59 
53,530.42 

$10,127.87 

10,678.62 

113,296.13 

119,507.26 

55,575.96 

25,687.95 

19,518.51 

6,513.19 

,266,042.43 
346,263.15 

23,994.31 



Various income 

Contracts, etc. (anticipation of taxes) 



$156,224.63 



2,122,998.92 



360,905.49 



1,636,299.89 

135,457.44 
2,030,033.01 

^6,441,919.38 



Of the expenses of tlie Government for the same fiscal 
period, it will be seen from the following abstract that 
the army expenses form more than a sixth of the entire 
sum, even in a time of peace. 



304 



GUATEMALA. 



Expenses op Administration. 

Department of the Interior . . $167,349.25 

" " " Treasury . . 208,872.45 

" War .... 1,164,521.37 

" " Justice . . . 723,746.93 

" " Public Instruction 252,891.62 

" " Foreign Affairs . 80,850.11 



>, 598, 231. 73 



Genekal Expenses. 

Collecting direct taxes . . . $6,962.01 

" indirect taxes . . 32,410.52 

Excise on liquors 126,031.04 

" " tobacco .... 96,289.65 

Higher instruction .... 25,418.55 

Municipios 15,704.77 

Pawnshops and pensions . . . 45,053.54 

Mails 42,725.16 

Telegraphs 101,288.61 

Mint 20,539.59 

Mobiliario 2,986.76 

Hospitals. ...... 136,794.20 

Police 148,128.12 

Confiscations 581.52 

Judiciary 6,033.37 

Extraordinary . . . . . 6,606.92 

Gunpowder and saltpetre . . 2,960.64 

816,514.97 

Interest $200,325.81 

Purchase of tobacco .... 99,342.05 
" " gunpowder and salt- 
petre .... 5,795.70 
Eepayments {Devolutiones) . . 14,373.07 

Public property 6,197.09 

Accounts 2,010.24 

' 328,043.96 

Funding bonds and obligations 2,554,076.94 

Subsidy to street-railroad 833.33 

Various paj^ments 205,721.45 

$6,503,422.38 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 305 

However dry long columns of figures may be, they tell 
the story in the shortest way, and will give to those inter- 
ested in the work of a Government some insight into its 
methods. Like many other Governments, that of Guate- 
mala anticipates taxes, borrows, and issues paper obliga- 
tions. Its chief income is from the sale of liquor and 
from import duties. I have in another place described 
the method of taxing the sale of liquors, and I may say 
here that the tax seems to be collected with fairness ; but 
the heavy import duties offer a premium on smuggling, 
a,nd I was told some very ingenious and amusing methods 
that had been used to evade the customs. If the ports 
of Guatemala were not just what they are, it would be a 
very difficult matter to collect the revenue from imports. 

The currency of Guatemala is silver, with the exception 
of about $50,000 of Government paper, and, like the silver 
currency of the United States, is worth only about seventy 
per cent of its face in gold ; but, unlike the Northern Re- 
public, Guatemala has not the power to float her debased 
coin, and the standard is therefore American gold. To 
meet its needs the Government sometimes mortgages to 
money-lenders its revenues in part, or even puts a custom- 
house in pawn ; and cases have occurred where its subsi- 
dies have been suspended by arbitrary decree for a year, 
or even longer. Hence the unwillingness to embark in 
a-ny enterprise that is largely dependent on Government 
aid. Even the mail-subsidies when paid are paid with 
orders on the customs. This, together with the very 
heavy import duties, certainly checks the investment of 
foreign capital ; though to those within the country, and 
informed as to methods, the duties are much lightened by 
purchasing Government bonds at .fifty per cent and paying 

20 



306 GUATEMALA. 

them for duties at par. By this and similar practices, 
which I do not think it best to describe, large mercantile 
establishments derive great profit at the expense of the 
revenues. 

To meet the needs of commerce there are but three 
banks ; two, " El Banco Internacional " and " El Banco 
Columbiano," are in the City of Guatemala, while the 
third is in Quezaltenango. These have between them a 
capital of perhaps $5,000,000, and they do the business of 
banks of circulation, deposit, and exchange. The usual 
rate on deposits subject to sight drafts is three per cent 
per annum, and on current accounts and discounts twelve 
per cent ; while they pay their stockholders from twelve 
per cent to twenty per cent in dividends. The Banco In- 
ternacional has called in but seventy per cent of its capital 
stock. These banks date only from 1875, and their notes 
are hardly current outside the larger cities. Many of the 
principal mercantile houses do a larger banking business, 
and hold extensive private deposits. 

Of large corporations Guatemala has but few. That 
of the Piers (Compania de los Muelles de San Jose y 
Champerico) has a capital of $250,000 ; its profits are 
said to be immense, as it holds the monopoly of all the 
landing facilities on the Pacific coast. The railroads 
between Guatemala and San Jose, and between Cham- 
perico and Retalhuleu, are capitalized at about $5,000,000. 
The proposed railroad from Puerto Barrios (Santo Tomas) 
to the capital, at present mostly owned by natives, \i7ill, 
it is supposed, cost from twelve to fifteen millions. The 
street railway in Guatemala has a capital of $200,000. 

The Government owns the entire telegraphic system of 
the republic, and all the towns of any importance are con- 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 307 

nected by more than three thousand miles of wire, with 
seventy offices. The expenditures of this bureau seem to 
be nearly twice the amount of the receipts, and from the 
nature of the country the cost of maintenance must be very 
great, owing to the rapid growth of tropical vegetation and 
the destruction wrought by insects, especially the comajen ; 
yet the tariff is reasonable, and one can, while paying for 
a message, pay also for the answer (contesiacion pagado). 
Both the designs on the telegraph blanks and the paper 
used are much better than the companies in the United 
States supply to their customers. By cable Guatemala 
has communication with South America, Mexico, the 
United States, and Europe. 

The mail service is excellent between the principal 
towns and foreign ports ; but owing to the nature of the 
country the time consumed over the less-frequented roads 
is very great. As a fair indication of the development of 
the country since 1871 under the administration of Pres- 
ident Barrios, the great increase in the amount of matter 
sent through the mails may be cited ; for in that year the 
total number of letters, papers, and circulars did not 
reach fifty thousand, while in 1884 it exceeded three 
millions. Guatemala has joined the Postal Union, but 
demands ten cents per rate on letters leaving her ports. 
While so many of the great nations put upon their post- 
age-stamps the portraits of their rulers or most distin- 
guished men to be spit upon and defaced, this republic, with 
better taste, submits only the national bird (quetzal) to 
this rough treatment.-^ 



^ A new series of stamps was issued in 1886; and it is reported that they 
were furnished to the Government free of cost by a private individual, who 
asked as his only compensation the entire lot of stamps of the old issue then. 



308 GUATEMALA. 

What a people imports is always a matter of no slight 
moment in studying their social condition ; and on ex- 
amining the classified list which I have taken from the 
official publications, one will see several very curious facts. 
First a large amount of cinnamon is imported, chiefly to 
flavor chocolate, when it might readily be raised at home, 
— indicating that the enormous duty of one hundred per 
cent does not prevent importation or stimulate home pro- 
duction. The same may be predicated of white wax, 
wheat, and flour, for bees flourish in the uplands, and the 
wheat is of the best quality ; but mills are scarce, and pri- 
vate enterprise is wanting. Few printed books are im- 
ported ; and as the domestic publications are unimportant, 
we must infer that the Guatemaltecans are not a reading 
people. The table also gives an idea of the duties levied, 
and is worthy of attention. That the reader may see how 
little the commerce of the United States brings to Guate- 
mala, I have given a table of imports by countries. Nearer 
than England or France, it is still cheaper to pass her by 
and go to the distant markets. 

CLASSIFICATION OF IMPOKTS BY SEA IN 1884 

Values. Duties. 

Oils (vegetable) . . . . $14,839.45 $14,128.30 

Aguardiente 35,124.70 43,694.75 

Cotton thread and cloth . . 1,607,362.34 1,594,756.48 

Firearms . ■ 1,758.00 2,435.00 

Shoes 3,697.42 3,926.28 

Cinnamon 20,845.00 20,194.45 

Carriages 2,600.00 1,575.00 ' 

Carried forward .... $1,686,226.91 $1,680,710.26 

on hand Evidently the rage for old postage-stamps has a money basis, and 
this contractor expects to get a corner on old Guatemaltecan stamps ; and no 
doubt he will make profit on his venture. 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 309 

Brought forioard . . . . $1,686,226.91 $1,680,710.26 

Barley 4,386.20 438.62 

White wax 3,122.50 2,982.20 

Beer 29,856.20 30,267.96 

Preserves 47,539.87 41,851.68 

Glass 10,725.63 8,397.56 

Money 82,932.00 free 

Sundry articles .... 11,375.40 11,594.34 

Drugs 21,462.94 22,794.77 

Stearine, crude, and caudles . 14,798.15 11,563.22 

Matches 7,235.76 7,359.43 

Flour 118,490.00 139,082.10 

Iron in bars, etc. . . . 85,852.25 99,637.37 
Instruments, — agriculture, 

arts, and sciences . . 2,728.80 272.88 

Wool, thread, and cloth . . 146,294.34 159,381.69 

Printed books .... 12,627.50 1,252.75 

Sweet liquors . . . . 5,386.65 5,893.49 

Linen cloth 11,743.17 11,236.54 

Earthenware . . . . . 15,490.86 14,129.36 

Timber for building . . . 35,594.00 free 

Machinery 48,475.70 4,847.57 

Medicines . . . . . 52,952.85 54,326.68 

Hardware 23,738.46 21,954.95 

Wooden furniture . . . 1,143.50 1,865.46 
Articles for institutions of 

charity or public education 10,837.94 free 

Paper 41,694.37 29,358.39 

Perfumery 5,873.65 6,034.26 

Petroleum and naphtha . . 14,764.00 8,439.30 

Pianos 10,950.00 6,470.00 

Tanned leather .... 56,863.84 31,263.10 

Prenderiafina .... 19,145.00 1,914.50 

Utensils of tin, iron, etc. . 24,678.26 21,245.84 

Clocks 8,956.00 786.55 

Empty bags 25,384.83 free 

Salt 4,122.30 12.778.56 

Silk thread and cloth . . 102,835.72 116,936.29 

Saddles 946.25 1,082.00 



Carried forward . . . $2,802,231.80 $2,568,149.67 



310 GUATEMALA. 

Brought forivard . . . $2,802,231.80 $2,568,149.67 

Hats of all kinds . . . 23,751.68 24,369.35 
Corrugated iron, barbed wire, 

carts, pumps .... 18,462.70 1,536.91 

Wheat 60,128.51 28,362.68 

Eailroad supplies . . . 328,426.37 free 

Wine 48,697.40 52,165.24 

$3,281,698.46 $2,674,583.85 

IMPORTED IN 1884 FROM 

England $1,735,954.87 

France 450,365.75 

CALIFORNIA 391,782.50 

Germany 170,824.35 

NEW ORLEANS 103,548.24 

NEW YORK 98,296.18 

Switzerland 75,173.61 

Spain 69,387.49 

Italy 51,632.60 

China 48,594.32 

Belgium 29,781.25 

Belize (British Honduras) . . . 28,937.48 

Central America 14,569.77 

United States of Columbia ... 10,314.05 

Chile 2,536.00 

$3,281,698.46 

California furnishes most of the flonr and wheat, but 
New Orleans most of the timber for building, while New 
York contributes printed books, canned goods, clocks, fire- 
arms, and patent medicines. From the three ports of the 
United States which are in direct steam communication 
with the ports of Guatemala goods valued at $593,626.92 
were imported, — less than came from France and Germany, 
and not a third part of what England sends. Yankee 
traders are certainly left entirely behind in Guatemaltecan 
commerce. Without going deeply into the causes which 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 311 

drive the United States from a natural market, I will 
state several facts which an intelligent reader may inter- 
pret for himself. 

The largest mercantile houses in Guatemala are Ger- 
man ; Americans of the North are alDsent. When it was 
suggested to the agent of one of the largest cotton-mills 
in New England that the cases in which its cloths were 
usually packed for market could not be handled in a coun- 
try provided only with mule transportation, the Yankee 
agent thought it not worth the trouble to pack in smaller 
bales, as did the English and French manufacturers. 
Ready-made clothes are cheaper in France, and shoes in 
Germany and France. If I want barbed wire for my 
fences, corrugated iron for my warehouses, or rails for my 
tramways, my English correspondent can deliver all these 
to me on my wharf at Livingston much cheaper than I caii 
buy any of these manufactures of iron in protected New 
York. England, from her experience in her tropical colo- 
nies, knows how to prepare merchandise, and what sorts are 
needed for the trade with tropical America; she buys the 
crop of mahogany, logwood, and coffee, and saves exchange 
by selling her own products, and at the same time sup- 
ports her own vessels in the carrying trade. If it were not 
for the fresh fruit which the United States needs, there 
would probably not be a single line of steamers between 
these countries ; for on the Pacific side Guatemala is merely 
a way-station. Finally, the sarsaparilla goes to England, 
and is there manufactured into extract or syrup for the 
use of the immense establishments of patent medicines 
in the United States. 

Now let us see what Guatemala contributes to the 
needs of foreign nations ; and I give a table of exports 



312 



GUATEMALA. 



for two years, that the changes may be noted. Of the 
former staples, such as indigo and cochineal, the amount 
now exported is insignificant ; the exportation of coffee fell 
off, owing to a short crop ; sugar was influenced by the 
low prices ruling in foreign markets. 

TABLE OF EXPORTS. 





1883. 


1884. 


Cwt. 


Price. 


Value. 


Cwt. 


Price. 


Value. 


Indigo 

Sugar and muscovado . 
Bananas (bunches) . . 

Ores 

Cacao 

Coffee 

Cochineal 

Ox-hides 

Deer-skins 

White wax 

India-rubber .... 
Timber (feet) .... 

Heifers 

Cows 

Woollen cloth .... 

Sarsaparilla 

Suelos 


135.02 

44,927.27 

29,699.00 

160.80 

97.66 

404,069.39 

184.01 

7,577.41 

230.83 

22.34 

3,454.14 

253,504.00 

230.00 

89.00 

211.54 

332.12 

96.06 


$1.25 
.05 
.40 
.20 
.40 
.12 
.50 
.20 
.40 
.50 
.65 
.04 
25.00 
15.00 
1.50 
.10 
.40 


$16,881.25 

223,136.35 

11,876.60 

3,216.00 

3,905.40 

4,848,832.68 

' 9,200.50 

151,548.20 

9,233.20 

1,117.00 

224,519.10 

10,140.16 

5,750.00 

1,355.00 

31,731.00 

3,321.20 

3,682.40 

13,375.43 

145,515.60 


62.67 

37,956.95 

54,633.00 

26.60 

14.92 

371,306.44 

8.12 

7,888 79 

248.12 

1,485.80 
352,006.00 

61.69 
632.30 
63.31 


$1.25 
.04 
.55 
.20 
.40 
.12 
.50 
.20 
.40 

.35 

.04 

1.50 
.10 
.40 


$7,833.75 

151.827.80 

30,048.15 

532.00 

596.80 

4,455,677.28 

406.00 

157,775.80 

9,924.80 

52,003.00 
14,082.64 

9,253.50 
6,323.00 
2,532.40 
6,272.21 ; 
32,852.00 


Current money . . . 




















Totals 


744,720.59 




$5,718,341.07 


826,666.26 




$4,937,941.13 



The business is divided between the three principal 
ports in the following proportion : — 





San Jose. 


Champerico. 


Livingston. 




cwt. 


cwt. 


cwt. 


Imports . . 


. 308,596.27 


62,789.62 


51,698.59 


Exports 


. 170,615.90 


224,739.49 


31,134.12 



I have elsewhere written of the products that Guatemalft 
might export, and I willingly turn from the commercial 
features of the country to those that affect the comfort 
and happiness of the inhabitants. A sufficient govern- 
ment is the first necessity. To sustain this the people 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 313 

must be educated ; and to develop it the country must pos- 
sess natural riches and the opportunity of marketing them. 
But all these elements work, not in a line, but in a circle, 
as it were. Without revenue, government cannot provide 
for free education; without education, a people will not 
establish a wise form of government ; without a wise 
government, the resources of the country cannot be de- 
veloped to yield a proper income. All these things are 
interdependent. The government must foster education 
and protect property ; it must encourage those occupations 
which increase the material wealth of the people. In- 
creased wealth means larger revenue, and permits greater 
expenditures for public works ; so government and people 
grow together. 

Possessed of a remarkably fine climate, a favorable 
geographical situation, and great variety in its fertile soil, 
Guatemala has a population poor and unable to undertake 
important works which require capital. Money must there- 
fore be sought abroad to develop the riches of the land, 
which are in agricultural products rather than in mines ; 
and the Government offers to any industrious, respectable 
colonists suitable tracts of public land (terrenos haldios), 
together with exemption from duties and taxes for ten 
years. That this offer may not seem too attractive, it must 
be added that the best public lands remaining undisposed 
of are remote from ports, with no adequate means of 
communication. They are also covered for the most 
part with dense forests, to be cleared away only at 
great expense. Besides, it is well known that whenever 
virgin soil is broken up, mysterious fevers and malarial 
emanations are liberated from the soil ; and although 
these are not dangerous to men of good constitution, 



314 GUATEMALA. 

they certainly are not pleasant. Not only enterprise and 
perseverance are needful for the planter, but a respectable 
capital as well; for the colonist has to build his own 
houses, wharves, and bridges, make his own roads, and 
own his tools, animals, boats, and carts. 

Labor is both by the day and by the task, and wages 
are very low. A day's labor — from six o'clock in the 
morning to six at night, with an hour from ten o'clock to 
eleven for breakfast (almuerzo), and another from one 
o'clock to two for rest — is paid from twenty-five to fifty 
cents. Laborers are also hired by the month, with allow- 
ance for rations. On the Atlantic coast the Carib is a 
good, strong workman when properly managed, while 
in the interior the Indies and ladinos supply fully the 
present demand. 

Articles of food are cheap, and some of the prices, as 
given by the Minister of the Interior, are as follows : 
beef, pork, and mutton, eight cents per pound ; fowls of 
good size, thirty-seven and a half to sixty-two cents ; 
rice, a dollar and a half to two dollars per arroba (twenty- 
five pounds) ; flour, eight to nine dollars per quintal (one 
hundred pounds) ; maiz, a dollar and a half to three 
dollars a fanega (four hundred ears) ; beans, white, 
black, or red, four to six dollars a quintal ; eggs, a 
dollar and a half a hundred ; milk, six cents a bottle ; 
cheese, twelve to twenty-five cents a pound ; butter, 
sixty-two cents per pound. Guatemaltecan cookery, al- 
though simplicity itself in its instalment, is excellent 
and wholesome, — none of the vile saleratus-bread, tough 
doughnuts, and clammy pies (I have great respect for 
a good tart) which are the curse of the country cook- 
ing of New England. But let the comida consist of 



THE EEPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 315 

only tortillas, frijoles, and liuevos ; these staples are 
always well cooked. 

Of the industrial and mechanical arts Guatemala has 
very little to show, apart from the woven fabrics and pot- 
tery already alluded to. Tailors and shoemakers abound, 
— and this in a climate where the former might almost 
be dispensed with, and where the latter work for not a 
moiety of the population. On the other hand, there are 
few cabinet-makers, although the native woods offer the 
choicest material for the skilled workman. There are no 
foundries or forges worthy the name, and all machinery is 
imported, and repairs must be made in San Francisco or 
New Orleans. Glass, porcelain, and stoneware is all im- 
ported, although the materials, of the best quality, are 
found here in abundance. Fibre-plants and rags are plen- 
tiful, and the consumption of paper is large ; but every 
sheet is imported, — that used for stamps being made in 
France. While coconuts, sesame, cohune, castor-bean, 
and croton grow abundantly, there is no commercial 
manufacture of the vegetable oils ; and we have seen 
that more than fourteen thousand dollars' worth were 
imported in 1884. 

While the general climate of Guatemala is remarkably 
healthy, the people are exceedingly careless of all sani- 
tary precautions, especially in the matter of drainage and 
the waste products of the human body, trusting to the 
intervention of vultures and dogs to remove health- 
endangering filth. Yellow fever was common through 
the hot lowlands of the Pacific coast in 1883, and 
whooping-cough, measles, and small-pox prevailed in 
many parts of the country. The consumption of patent 
medicines and empirical preparations, obtained from the 



316 



GUATEMALA. 



apothecary rather than the physician, is enormous in 
proportion to the population. Vital statistics are not 
obtained with the greatest accuracy, and only the con- 
stant care of the superior officer enables any result worthy 
of attention to be obtained. The following table is tol- 
erably accurate. The population is, as estimated on De- 
cember 31 : — 



Years. 


Population. 


Births. 


Deaths. 


Increase. 


Marriages. 


















Males. 


Females. 


Total. 


Males. 


Females. 


Total. 






1881 


1,252,497 


28,146 


25,708 


53,854 


14,019 


11,940 


25,959 


27,895 


4,611 


1882 


1,276,961 


29,362 


26,697 


56,059 


16,728 


14,867 


31,595 


24,464 


4,864 


1883 


1,278,311 


28,488 


25,934 


54,422 


28,431 


24,641 


53,072 


1,350 


4,287 


1884 




















1885 





















Of the children born in 1883, 41,260 were legitimate, 
and 13,162 natural ; 16,991 were ladinos, and 37,431 
Indios. The legitimate children were in the proportion 
of one to every one hundred and twenty-eight of the 
ladino population, and one to every forty-one of the 
Indios. The natural births stand one to each one hun- 
dred and eighty-three ladinos, and one to each two 
hundred and seven Indios, — proportions which speak 
volumes for the superior morality of the indigenous 
population. 

No less than nine hospitals were supported by the 
Government in 1883, — one each in Antigua, Amatitlan, 
Escuintla, Quezaltenango, Retalhuleu, and Chiquimula, 
and three in Guatemala City. In these 11,998 patients 
were treated during the year, with the result of one death 
to every thirteen treated. Of the diseases from which 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 



317 



patients died, the following is a list of all numbering over 
ten victims : — 



Consumption . 
Fever (perniciosa) 
D3'seuteiy 
Entero-colitis 
Yellow fever 
Enteritis . 
Pneumonia 
Alcoiiolism 
Small-pox 
Cachexia paludica 
Tj'phoid fever 



75 

74 
68 
63 
52 
42 
33 
24 
18 
18 
11 



Of the consumptive patients, probably the majority 
were foreigners seeking safety in the mild climate of 
Guatemala ; and in the others the disease was not of 
throat orighi, but sprang from that unclean state that 
wise physicians are beginning to recognize as phthisical in 
its tendency. 

I wish I could say more of the remedies of the Indies. 
In a land abounding in healing plants, it would be sup- 
posed that the inhabitants would be expert in their quali- 
ties ; and so the Indies are, if report may be trusted (they 
are said to cure even hernia, by applying astringent herbs 
to the tumor). But they are shy, and unwilling to 
display their knowledge before strangers ; and my stay 
among them was too short to invite their confidence. 
The Caribs do not seem to jDOssess much knowledge of 
the healing art. 

From the bodily ills of a people one turns naturally to 
the moral diseases ; and it is interesting to note what are 
the crimes and misdemeanors to which punishments are 
most frequently allotted. Of 9,303 persons tried during 



318 



GUATEMALA. 



the course of 1883, 6,125 were accused of misdemeanors 
(faltas), and 3,178 of crimes (delitos). Of tlie former 
class 764 were acquitted, while of those tried for crimes 
1,515 were judged not guilty, — leaving only 1,663 crim- 
inals out of a population of a million and a quarter. 
The carefully prepared tables published each year by the 
Government show that there is hardly one delinquent for 
each thousand inhabitants ; that notwithstanding the 
greatly inferior numbers of the ladinos, this class claims 
many more convicts ; and that eighty per cent of the 
criminals have no education. 



Crimes or Delitos. 


Males. 


Fe- 
males. 


Ladi- 
nos. 


Indios. 


Read. 


Write. 


Unedu- 
cated. 


Single. 


Mar- 
ried. 


Total. 


Against authority- 


133 


6 


HI 


28 


8 


48 


83 


56 


83 


139 


Assaults .... 


56 


5 


51 


10 


6 


18 


37 


37 


24 


61 


Wounding . . . 


396 


21 


298 


119 


19 


82 


315 


215 


201 


417 


Homicide . . . 


188 


15 


117 


86 


4 


46 


153 


107 


96 


203 


Bodily injuries . . 


312 


35 


202 


145 


12 


40 


295 


174 


173 


347 


Adultery . . . 


55 


55 


69 


41 


7 


24 


79 


25 


85 


110 


Seduction . . . 


38 




24 


14 


1 


9 


28 


31 


7 


38 


Rape 


42 




41 


1 


4 


20 


18 


33 


9 


42 


Lewdness . . . 


68 




50 


18 


7 


18 


43 


49 


19 


68 


Injurias .... 


80 


■56 


106 


24 


14 


29 


87 


62 


68 


130 


Cattle-stealing . . 


74 




40 


34 




14 


60 


26 


48 


74 


Tricks .... 


39 


'io 


44 


5 


'4 


22 


23 


34 


15 


49 


Robbery .... 


32 


5 


33 


4 


2 


12 


23 


31 


6 


37 


Larceny .... 


303 


49 


264 


88 


13 


80 


259 


208 


144 


352 


Against liquor laws 


276 


316 


313 


279 


23 


60 


509 


175 


417 


592 


Smuggling tobacco 


25 


12 


25 


12 


1 


8 


28 


11 


26 


37 


Defrauding . . . 


95 


75 


71 


99 


4 


16 


150 


61 


109 


170 


Desertion . . . 


49 




48 


1 


1 


7 


41 


28 


21 


49 


All otlier delitos . 


227 


'36 


188 


75 


18 


84 


161 


126 


137 


236 


Totals .... 


2488 


690 


2095 


1083 


148 


639 


2392 


1489 


1688 


3178 



Included in the "other delitos'' are several crimes 
much more common in New England and elsewhere, — 
perjury, nine ; libel, fifteen ; arson, thirteen ; poisoning, 
three ; infanticide, four ; bribery, two ; abandonment of 
infants, four. In Livingston the " Court " kindly con- 
sented to sit for its portrait ; and although this abode of 
the blind goddess was very dark, I got a satisfactory 
picture. I also photographed a man sitting in the stocks 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 



319 



and undergoing a whipping ; but this the principal citizens 
prayed me to suppress. 



Misdemeanors or faltas. 


Males. 


Females. 


Ladinos. 


Indies. 


Read. 


Write. 


Unedu- 
cated. 


Single. 


Man led 


Agaiast public order . . 
" municipal law 
" persons .... 
" property . . . 
" military discipline 


3,680 

146 

933 

152 

37 


740 
13 

393 
31 


1,679 
111 
832 
141 
21 


2,520 

38 

387 

42 

16 


170 

8 

34 

3 

5 


496 
29 

157 

20 

5 


3,466 
87 
879 
144 
27 


1,861 

69 

620 

107 

13 


2,276 

55 

453 

41 

24 




4,948 


1,177 


2,784 


3,003 


220 


707 


4,603 


2,674 


2,849 



A notable fact in regard to punishments in Guatemala 
is their publicity. In New England every effort is made 
to conceal criminals from public gaze; the punishment 
which is intended to deter others from a similar act is, 
foolishly enough, merely a matter of hearsay to the bulk 
of the population. A silly sentimentality bides the con- 
victs in prisons better and more commodious than the 
homes of a majority of the people, feeds them with suffi- 
cient and wholesome food, and in general wastes more 
pity on them than it vouchsafes to the honest poor, — 
and all this at the expense of innocent citizens ! In 
Guatemala I examined many prisons, finding them all 
open to inspection. The passer-by can see through the 
grated door of the car eel all the prisoners within. 
When finally sentenced, the criminals are put upon the 
public roads and set to work under guard and chained, so 
that every one may be reminded that the " way of trans- 
gressors is hard." In the prisons they sleep on mats, and 
receive from the Government a real (twelve and a half 
cents) a day, with which to buy food. In the new pris- 
ons aU the modern improvements are introduced, and 



320 GUATEMALA. 

hard labor is provided in great variety. I believe also 
that as large a proportion of crimes is detected and 
punished as in any other country. I have been enabled 
to follow several cases through the courts, and found the 
decisions in strict accordance with the law, both in crimi- 
nal and civil actions. 

It would be unfair to pass in complete silence the darker 
scenes in the life of the Guatemaltecan republic; but I 
confess to an ignorance as to the exact truth of the stories 
that have been whispered about, — whispers indeed that 
I heard myself while in the City of Guatemala. Distin- 
guished members of the old conservative party assured 
me that they lived in daily dread of the Government. 
Spies and informers were ready at all times to entrap 
them if in an unguarded moment they should utter their 
opinion of the political situation, or condemn official cor- 
ruption. Trial by court-martial — that most odious form 
of injustice — might result in their banishment or death ; 
and I was told that the laws, however generally wise, 
really depended on the caprice of the President, who 
could suspend or annul them whenever he saw occasion. 
I am sure that these persons believed what they told me 
with bated breath ; but I also know to what extreme 
opinions political dislikes will lead in these Southern 
republics. On the death of Barrios and the accession of 
Barillas, it is said that eight hundred political prisoners 
were released from the prisons where they had been im- 
mured by the late President, often without even the fortn 
of a trial. The universal rule of favoritism is too evi- 
dent to be concealed, and the amigo del Presidente has 
certainly undue power. To our Northern haste the tedious 
delay of all ofhcial work is a marked contrast, for the 



THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 321 

officials have not the skill, wisdom, or cunning of the mem- 
bers of our Northern legislatures, who remain in session an 
unconscionable time, apparently overwhelmed with work, 
although when they at last adjourn, the records show scant 
results. The Government of Guatemala is republican in 
name only, the President having actually as much irre- 
sponsible power as the Czar ; but so far as actually proved,, 
this power is used with moderation, and is perhaps a po- 
litical necessity of the country and race, however repug- 
nant to Anglo-Saxon ideas. As in all small governments, 
there is much form and red-tape, and the individual or 
company who has business with the authorities must have 
an accredited agent at the seat of Government to present 
petitions, press suit, or patiently await the result ; no 
person at a distance has any prospect of prompt attention.. 
With the exception of some of the higher officials, there 
are but few Guatemaltecans who really welcome foreign- 
ers, and among the Indies there is little attempt to con- 
ceal the feelings of jealousy or distrust with which 
outsiders are regarded. While the future growth of the 
country depends on the introduction of foreign capital, 
there are not many, now that Barrios is no more, who 
will dare to offend popular prejudices by openly taking 
the part of foreigners who either have invested capital 
here, or intend to do so. The popular idea of the day is 
a renewed confederation of the five republics, with Guate- 
mala at the head ; this means no extension of for- 
eign relations, but the impotent self-sufficiency that has 
always distinguished Central America and retarded her 
advance. 

Many indications point to an attempt in the near future 
to renew the confederation of the five republics, and it is 

21 



322 GUATEMALA. 

not improbable that Mexico may be included in the Cen- 
tral American Estados Unidos. It was the ambition of 
General Barrios to become emperor or president (the name 
matters little) of all Central America ; and he lost his life 
in the attempt. His death will not deter the politicians 
of the several States from attempting a revolution which 
may aggrandize their private fortunes in the general dis- 
turbance. If Mexico — a very inferior nation both in the 
character of her population and in natural resources — 
could be left out, it would seem very possible to unite 
again the fortunes of Guatemala, Honduras, San Salva- 
dor, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica ; but such a confederacy 
would not attract foreign capital as readily as a treaty 
alliance between quite independent republics, owing to a 
widespread distrust of the permanency of any confed- 
eracy. If the laws of the United States stretched to 
the Isthmus of Darien, doubtless capital would eagerly 
enter this rich field ; but at present it is as safe under 
the laws of Guatemala as under those of any Central 
American country. 

As England and Germany always protect the interests 
of their subjects wherever invested, and as the United 
States Government has neither the will nor the power to 
guard the interests of her people in foreign lands, it is 
not strange that Englishmen and Germans embark in 
profitable enterprises in the Central-American Republics 
wdiile Americans hesitate. At present we have to trust 
for our commercial rights to the general laws of na- 
tions and the favorable inclinations of the existing 
Government. 



CHAPTER XI. 

VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PEODUCTIONS. 

TROPICAL vegetation cannot well be described ; but 
the fact that even when seen it is hard to un- 
derstand, need not prevent an attempt to sketch the 
general features. The real trouble that meets the 
novice on the threshold of the tropics is the utter 
inadequacy of the English language to express the 
variety and luxuriance he sees in the vegetable world. 
Even in color his vocabulary fails him, and he must 
include in the name " green " so many distinct tints 
that at last he relinquishes the difficult task and falls 
back upon the commonplace epithets, or leaves his tale 
untold. In the abundance, in the confusion, of plant-life 
the observer sees that as he goes from shore to moun- 
tain the trees and plants are not the same, and he will 
readily divide the vegetation into four tolerably dis- 
tinct regions ; these are the Shore, the River-bottoms, 
the Upland, and the Arid plain. 

On all the low Cayos that are almost awash with 
every wave, and on the low margin of the mainland, 
extending up the wide rivers for miles, are the man- 
groves [Rhizophora mangle), giving the landscape a . 
dull look not at all attractive. They make indeed a 
hedge of interlaced branches and tangled roots inhos- 
pitably forbidding landing on the shores. In their 



324 GUATEMALA. 

branches are orchids, bromeliads, and other showy 
plants, while above all this comparatively low bush rises 
the graceful coco or the confra [Manicaria Plukenetii). 
The presence of mangroves is usually considered an 
indication of the haunt of malaria, but on insufficient 
grounds ; for when these trees are cleared away, the 
shore is admirably suited for coconuts, which with 
equal unreason are popularly regarded as token of a 
salubrious i3limate. 

As we follow up the rivers from the shore, we see 
the mangroves breaking their dense wall, while reeds 
and bambus fill the gaps ; until at last mangroves have 
disappeared, as the rich valleys are reached. And now 
no one, or two, or six species can claim supremacy. 
Two trees are, however, prominent, where man has not 
interfered, — the cohune and the mahogany ; both trees 
of attractive form and size, and both by their presence 
indicating the richest soil. The unspoiled forest of the 
river region presents a wonderful variety above the 
ground ; but among its roots the exceptionally rich soil 
is almost bare, dwarf palms, wild bananas, gingers, and 
ferns scantily covering its surface. From the trees hang 
long vines {vejucos), some of them of value for cordage, 
others, as the paullinia (P. sorbilis) and zarza {Smi- 
lax sp.), possessed of medicinal properties, while others 
are full of grateful sap. Endless variety reigns, and on 
every side the puzzled observer sees different trees. 
Often the stems are so covered with orchids, aroids, and 
other parasitic and climbing plants that they can hardly 
be recognized, and their leaves and flowers are but a 
part of the fresh canopy some sixty feet or more above 
the ground. From a mountain ridge this forest looks 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 325 

like a level plain, even as the top of a well-trimmed 
hedge ; its surface is here and there broken by the 
giant mahogany, or seamed by the river and its afflu- 
ents. Rosewood, cedar, palo de mulatto, cacao, figs,^ 
are all here, and the palms, from the noble cohune to 
the insignificant chamaedoras, are plentifully scattered 
among the other trees. During the season of flowers the 
brilliant yellow of the wild tamarind [Scliizolobium), 
the equally bright magenta of the Palo de Cortez, and 
the white of the plumosa, appear to the observer from 
above like a rich mosaic, while all this color is invisi- 
ble to one who is beneath these trees. All vegetation 
here is not merely luxuriant, it is composite. There 
are no solitary trees, no hermits, in the vegetable world. 
Every trunk is but a trellis for vines, some of them, 
like the matapalo, strangling the fostering tree, or a 
nest for plants that do not seem able to get up in the 
forest on their own stems. If I find a branch in 
blossom, I must make sure that it is of the tree it- 
self, and not part of some mistletoe-like hanger-on. 
I have seen single trees bearing on their trunk and 
branches enough orchids and other choice plants to 
stock a hothouse. The matapalo deserves more than 
a passing word, for it is the type of a niunerous group 
of plants in the tropics. This vine may start from 
the ground, but quite as often it germinates in the 
hollow of a branch, or among the other parasites of 
the higher branches ; in either case it is at first a 
slender, innocent-looking vine, clinging timidly to the 

^ These are not the edible figs, but many varieties of the fig family that 
form an important food for monkeys and birds. In the latter part of this 
book 1 liave given a list of the more important trees of this forest region. 



326 



GUATEMALA. 



tree for support and protection. Soon the vine grows 
until its proportions resemble those of a huge serpent, 




Matapalo Tree. 



and it has reached the topmost branches and mingled 
its own foliage and flowers with those of its trellis. 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 327 

The standard tree is from that moment doomed, and 
wastes away in the murderous grasp of the vegetable 
anaconda. The matapalo may fall in the ruin of its 
decaying foster-parent, but not infrequently it has pre- 
pared for the emergency by sending out many a guy 
and splitting the main stem into numerous buttresses, 
so that it can stand alone — a very remarkable tree, and 
one often used as a boundary-mark. 

In this region of the river-bottoms we could linger 
long ; but it must be left, for a scientific description of 
its treasures would fill many volumes , of the size of 
this, and the explorer has not yet collected ^ the mate- 
rial needed. Any botanist who would devote three 
months to the thorough exploration of the valley for- 
ests of Guatemala ought to add not less than a hun- 
dred new species to the flora of the region, and also 
determine the species of most of the beautiful cabinet 
woods now known only by their native names.^ 

Climbing the hills brings one to a very distinct vegeta- 
tion, and here in the uplands are trees in masses ; that is, 
there are whole forests of one or two species, and the 
representatives of the kinds most common in the cooler 
regions are found here. There are pine-trees as much as 



^ Professor Serene Watson, of the Harvard College Herbarium, collected, 
during two winter months in the Department of Izabal, five hundred spe- 
cies of plants, many of them new to science (Proceedings of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. xxi. pp. 456 et seq.). Notes of some 
of these will be found in the Appendix. He collected no less than twenty- 
five species of palms. 

2 In the Appendix will be found a list of the woods under their local 
names ; but as these vary in the different provinces, it will be of little 
use in determining the trees from which they are obtained. Rosewood is 
said to be furnished by at least three trees not connected botanically, and 
the application of the name " cedar " is as puzzling. 



328 GUATEMALA. 

eight feet in diameter, and spruces of little less size. Oaks 
also of several species are abundant ; but the palm family 
almost disappears in the dryer soil, only the cabbage- 
palm climbing out of the rich lowlands, — and that is not 
abundant enough to give character to the vegetation. 
While in the lowlands the ground is devoid of sod, here 
the grass carpets the soil, extending to the very tree-trunks, 
and is kept in fine order by the numerous sheep. Agaves 
are found on the hillsides, creepers like the clematis take 
the place of the vejucos, and stevias, bouvardias, and 
dahlias that of, gingers and marantas. 

The fourth region is quite as distinct as either of the 
others. It comprises the dry lava plains where the 
changes of diurnal temperature are considerable, and 
where the soil, though rich, is scant and insufficiently 
watered. Here are found the calabash-tree {Crescentia 
cujete), espina blanca, or gum arable, and the cockspur 
(Acacia spadicifera) ; w^hile a coarse grass covers the 
ground between the lava blocks. 

In Guatemala there are two families of plants, — Palm 
and Orchid, — presenting numerous species and of at- 
tractive and beautiful appearance, at the same time by no 
means devoid of commercial importance. 

Chief among palms stands the cohune [Attalea cohune), 
known also as manaca and corozo. When young, the 
palm has no stem, its enormous leaves rising from the 
ground more than thirty feet. The rhachis, or midrib, of 
the pinnate fronds is of a rich red color, and larger round' 
than a man's wrist, the distinct, conduplicate divisions 
being long and broad. Mr. Morris estimates a leaf he 
saw in British Honduras at sixty feet in length and eight 
feet in breadth. I have never seen one more than forty 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 329 

feet long and five wide ; but this is not an uncommon size 
of the manaca as it is cut for thatching, one leaf extend- 
ing across the roof. After remaining some years in the 
manaca state, the stem begins to elongate, and as it 
rises, the leaves become smaller, as is the case with the 
coconut and other palms so far as known. The leaf -stems 
are persistent, giving the tree a rough, untidy look, but 
doubtless having a purpose to fulfil in the economy of 
Nature. This palm is now known as corozo, and begins 
to fruit. The male inflorescence is an immense mass of 
more than thirty thousand staminate flowers in a com- 
pound raceme between four and five feet long ; these have 
a heavy, not disagreeable odor, and attract a great many 
bees and wasps, so that on one occasion the mozo who 
climbed the stem and cut for me a fine specimen was 
badly stung. These insects were so persistent after a 
great deal of shaking that the camera was used as 
quickly as possible, specimens were saved, and the spadix 
was, with the too-attractive flowers, thrown into the 
river. The pollen, which under the microscope shows 
a form exactly like a baker's roll, is in such abundance 
from the four hundred and fifty thousand stamens that 
it would fill a pint measure. The spathe, or cover of 
the inflorescence, looks like leather, is deeply furrowed 
on the outside, and would make a commodious bath-tub 
for a child. The fertile spadix has shorter branches, 
with the rather large flowers succeeded by from five to ten 
nuts, the whole bunch, which is about five feet long and 
weighs more than a hundred pounds, bearing from eight 
hundred to a thousand nuts. These nuts are two and a 
half inches long, and covered with a fibrous husk and so 
thick a shell that the valuable kernel cannot be extracted 



330 



GUATEMALA. 




Attalea Cohune. 

A Staminate blossoms. C Cluster of unripe nuts. '- 

B Stem of same. D Transverse section of nut. 

E Longitudinal section of nut. 

in quantity without powerful and expensive machinery. 
Like the coconut, the fruit is normally three-celled. But 
as in that palm two of the cells give up the struggle for 




CHOC0N PALMS. 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 331 

existence in early life, so in the coliune ; and I have never, 
in the scores of nnts opened, found more than one cell. 
Professor Watson has noticed two cells in several speci- 
mens, but never three. In the illustration of this palm 
the bunch of nearly ripe nuts is clearly shown, and in the 
diagram of flowers and fruit the fibrous husks and the 
abortive cells may be seen. The natives crush the ripe 
nuts between stones, and after pounding the rather small 
kernel in a mahogany mortar, boil the resulting cake 
until the oil floats ; this is skimmed off and boiled again, 
to drive out the water. The average yield is a quart of 
oil from a hundred nuts. The oil is said to be superior 
to coconut-oil, a pint of it giving as much light, or rather 
burning as long, as a quart of the latter.-^ It is not 
probable that the manufacture will pay in the presence 
of the more tractable coconut. As the cohune grows 
older, the hitherto persistent leaf-stems drop, the scars 
disappear, and the smooth stem rises thirt}^ to fifty feet 
clear to the crown of leaves at the summit. 

The pimento-palm has a small cinnamon-colored stem 
much used for house building, as is also the poknoboy 
(Bactris halanoidea). The warree cohune {Bactris co- 
hune), armed with spines, bears an edible nut much easier 
to crack than the larger fruit of the attalea. The cab- 
bage-palm (Oreodoxa oleracea) is common in the upper 
valleys, and the base of the leaf is a very poor cabbage, 
nor is it eaten to any extent. In the forests the pacaya 
[JEuterjje edidis) is a slender tree, the unexpanded flower- 
buds being the edible part ; and these are on sale in the 

1 Mr. Coffin, the hospitable magistrate at Punta Gorda, gave me some of the 
best oil ; and in the limited experiments I have tried with it, its properties much 
resemble those of coconut-oil. 



332 



GUATEMALA. 




market-places tied in neat and attractive bundles. In 
taste it is rather insipid. On the ridges the Acrocomia 
sclerocarj)a flourishes ; its stem is, like the 
warree cohune, armed with formidable spines, 
which serve as pins, needles, and awls. The 
Acrocomia vinifera also is common in the 
valley of the Motagua. Along the river- 
banks the Desmoncics, a climbing palm, is 
very common and very troublesome to the 
explorer ; but it shows such a curious adap- 
tation of parts to special ends that its bad 
qualities may be overlooked by the natural- 
ist. It is generally understood that in the 
foliage of palms the palmate form is the 
earlier, and that the growth or development 
of the midrib results in a pinnate or feather 
form. This is seen to be the case in the 
coco-palm, where the first leaves are palmate 
or fan-shaped ; but when the palm is a few 
months old it puts off these childish gar- 
ments and dons the toga virilis in the pinnate 
form. In the desmoncus the development 
does not stop with the mere lengthening 
of the midrib, but transforms the leaflets 
at the end into claws to aid the limp 
stem to climb into sunlight. Here is a leaf- 
tip to show how this is done ; the ribs of 
the leaflets, instead of expanding into thin 
blades, have thickened and bent backward to 
serve as the barbs of an arrow and allow mo- 
tion in one direction only. The leaf can push 
the stiffly bent fingers through the thick foliage, where 



Leaf-tip of 
Climbing Palm. 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 333 

they stick fast and hold up the stem. The rattan-palm 
(Calamus rotang) of the East Indies climbs over the trees 
in a similar way. The Guatemalan climber bears a small 
cluster of spiny but edible nuts. The graceful little 
Chamaedoreas may be found in flower or fruit at almost 
any season of the year, and their slender stems make good 
walking-sticks. The confra [Manicaria Plukenetii), &o 
useful for thatching, grows only near the sea, usually 
in clumps of five or more. The nut is globular when one- 
celled, and about two inches in diameter. The coco 
{Cocos nucifera) is too well known to need description, 
though we shall consider the commercial importance of 
the nuts presently. Of the other fifty or more species of 
palms few have been identified, and their local names 
have no meaning for us. 

To the family of orchids the collector is sure to turn 
with eagerness ; but -I must confess that the brilliant colors 
and bizarre forms of these flowers are not attractive to 
me. They are parasites ; and although possessing a com- 
mercial value far above many more beautiful and honest 
flowers, only the vanilla has any useful qualities, so far 
as known. The vanilla moreover is an article of luxury, 
not necessity ; for doubtless the chemist will discover, 
if he has not alread}^ done so, a substitute in some of 
the thousand and one products of the decomposition of 
coal-tar. 

All along the coast the Epidendrum hicornutum and 
the Schomhurgkia tibicina are very common, affecting 
mangroves especially. On orange-trees in the Motagua 
valley grows a bright little yellow Oncidimn, the flower 
being the largest part of the plant. In the mountains is 
an orchid which bears several long spikes of rich purple 



334 GUATEMALA. 

flowers, which with the pure white clusters of a ground 
orchid are much used in church decoration. So little is 
popularly known of the vanilla ( V. 2)lctnifoUa) that I may 
be pardoned for quoting from Mr. Morris the directions 
lately issued from his Botanical Department of Jamaica, 
which are entirely applicable to the plant in Guatemala. 
In the Chocon forests it grows abundantly and fruits 
naturally, the insect needed to fertilize the flowers being 
present; and the pods are of excellent quality. 

Vanilla. — " This is a vigorous, soft-stemmed vine, the 
cured fruits of which are the valuable vanilla-beans of 
commerce. If cuttings are taken, their upper ends, or 
portion to appear above ground, may readily be deter- 
mined by examination of the base of the attached leaf, 
in the axil or upper face of which is a small growth-bud. 
Cut the stem with say three or four joints at one fourth 
of an inch below the basal node or joint, then place the 
base of each cutting shallowly in prepared soil against 
the bole or trunk of a rough-barked, low-branching tree, 
as, for instance, calabash, or on a low-trellised frame 
three or four feet high, the supports of which should 
be unbarked logwood, yoke, or calabash. 

" If the insect which fertilizes the flowers of this 
orchid in its natural habitat is not present, in order 
to secure a crop of fruit it is necessary that the flowers 
should be artificially fertilized. This may be easily 
accomplished as follows. In the flower is a central 
white column, at the summit of which is a detachable 
cap or anther, which if touched on the lower front edge 
with a sharpened pencil or knife-blade will adhere to the 
implement. The pollen masses contained in the anther 
must then be made lightly to touch the sticky disk sit- 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PKODUCTIONS. 335 

uated on the front of the cohimn. Each flower must be 
so treated at or about noon of the day on which it 
opens. 

" To cure vanilla-beans, gather when full, steep for 
about two minutes in boiling water, and place in flannel 
to dry in the sun. When perfectly dry, place them the 
next day on plates of iron or tin, anointing once or twice 
with sweet oil, to keep them soft and plump. Complete 
the curing process by exposing them carefully in the sun 
for several days [weeks]. When quite cured they should 
have a uniformly rich brown color, and the full fragrance 
of this valuable product." 

In my own experience I have found it very difii- 
cult properly to dry the pods in the damp atmosphere 
of the rainy season on the coast, and prefer to use 
the hot-air dryers now generally used for tea, coffee, 
cacao, etc. 

Of the family of ferns little need be said. The 
gold-fern [Gym^iogramma aurea) is a common weed at 
Livingston, and adiantums, lygodiums, and selaginellas 
are found everywhere in the forests. While the small 
ferns are abundant, tree-ferns are very scarce, only one 
specimen being seen (in the forests of El Mico), and that 
not a fine one. 

Mahogany. — From the small extent of coast-line pos- 
sessed by Guatemala, her mahogany exports are perhaps 
not so extensive as those of the two Hondurases on either 
side of her. In 1884 there was exported of all woods 
(mahogany being the chief) from the port of Izabal (Liv- 
ingston) a measurement of 352,066 feet, valued at four 
cents a foot, or |14,082.64; while the shipments from 
Belize for the same time were about 3,000,000 feet, worth 



336 GJATEMALA. 

$150,000. This is not because the Guatemalan forests 
yield less of this valuable wood ; on the contrary, mahog- 
any-trees are very abundant in the Chocon forests, on 
the smaller tributaries of the Polochic, and in the Mo- 
tagua valley. I have myself seen hundreds of immense 
trees deep in the forests, while along the larger water- 
courses the trees have generally been cut. In British 
Honduras the origin and existence of the colony is due 
to mahogany-cutting. The mahogany-lands are in the 
hands of a few proprietors who will not sell nor allow 
settlers, since the young trees grow rapidly ; and it is said 
that in thirty years from a clearing, logs of large size 
may be cut from the shoots which spring from the 
stumps. The business of mahogany-cutting is thoroughly 
organized and made the most of. In the neighboring 
republic, much of the mahogany-land belongs to the 
Government, which allows any one to cut the timber on 
pretended payment of five dollars stumpage. A few 
private individuals cut here and there and in a desultory 
way. The work at a mahogany bank is generally done 
by Caribs, who are skilful woodmen. The hunter or 
montero strikes alone into the forest and searches for 
trees. If he finds enough of a suitable size (squaring 
not less than eighteen inches) within reasonable distance 
from the ''bank," a road is opened from the tree to the 
river. Often the buttresses are immense, and the plat- 
form, or "barbecue," is raised a dozen feet from the 
ground. The log is roughly squared, hauled to the rivfer, 
usually by night, by the light of pine-torches, and only 
when floated to port is it trimmed into its final shape for 
the market. The best mahogany comes from limestone 
regions. 



r 
VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 337 

With the mahogany is usually found the cedar {Cedrela 
odorata), from which cigar-boxes are made, and which is 
also used (as is mahogany) for single-log canoas, dories, 
and cayucos. 

As an article of export, logwood ranks next to mahog- 
any, of which the best is found in the region of the 
Usmnacinta. It is not a large tree, fifteen to twenty 
feet high, and much easier to handle than the mahogany. 
The dark heartwood alone is used. 

The Santa Maria {Calopliyllum calaba) is much used in 
house-building. Rosewood (Dcdhergia) grows to a large 
size and is most beautifully veined, as is also the exquisite 
Palo de mulatto {Spondias lutea) ; but both sink in water, 
and are difficult to transport. I have used rosewood logs 
twenty inches thick to support a cistern, as they are 
almost imperishable, and not attacked by insects. Sapo- 
dilla (Achras sapota) is nearly as heavy. When freshly 
hewn, its color is curiously red, beefy in tone ; but it soon 
loses this on exposure, and shrinks considerably. It splits 
easily, but is so tough that splinters are used as nails in 
soft woods. Salmwood [Jacaranda, sp.) is light colored^ 
and much used for door and window frames. Ziricote 
is beautifully veined. 

Two species of pine are common, the Pinus cuhensis, 
or ocote, whence is obtained the fat-pine which serves 
as candle for a great majority of the people of Central 
America, and the long-leaved pine (P. riiacrophylla) of 
the mountains. I have placed in the Appendix a list of 
other woods valuable in many ways, but never exported, 
and known only by their local names. 

The two products that in former years ranked high 
among the Guatemalan exports, indigo and cochineal, 

22 



338 GUATEMALA. 

have now been so completely superseded by other dyes, 
the product of the laboratory, that they no longer need 
be considered of importance, although enough indigo is 
still made to supply native dyers, the Indios especially 
prizing the true indigo blue. Both dye-stuffs were chiefly 
cultivated on the Pacific slopes, and I have seen half- 
neglected nopaleras in the vicinity of Antigua and Ama- 
titlan, the nopal or opuntia generally yielding place to 
sugar-cane and retiring to the roadside and neglected 
corners, while the cochineal insect, unfed and uncared- 
for, is gradually disappearing. In 1883 there were ex- 
ported 135.02 cwt. of indigo, valued at $16,881.25; while 
in 1884 only 62.67 cwt., of a value of $7,833.75. A 
more decided decrease is seen in the exportation of cochi- 
neal in those years, the amounts being 184.01 cwt., of a 
value of $9,200.50, in 1883, against 8.12 cwt., valued at 
$406, in 1884. 

It has been my fortune to visit many of the tropical 
regions of the world, and I have visited them not from 
idle curiosity, but with a genuine interest in their inhabi- 
tants and productions. I have looked upon the human, 
animal, and vegetable population of these places as closely 
as my limited knowledge and the time allowed me would 
permit. It is an agreeable study to place the physical 
capabilities of a region, the richness of the soil, the 
climatic influences, the geographical and commercial 
situation, side by side with the people, their industry, 
strength, and intelligence, and from these premises draw" 
the conclusion of the might-be. 

Once in travelling alone on horseback over the desert 
lands which lie between the mountains of the Island of 
Maui, of the Hawaiian group, I was impressed with the 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PKODUCTIONS. 339 

desolate, arid land of that great plain. Stunted indigo, 
verbena, and malvaceous weeds thinly covered the 
parched soil, which was cracked in every direction. 
Ten thousand feet above me rose the vast dome of 
Haleakala, bare on this landward side, but which had 
sent down for centuries volcanic ash to make this plain, 
and which now was covering these earlier deposits with 
the decomposition of its rich lavas. I examined this soil 
and found it full of the elements best suited for the growth 
of cane. As is the case with many of our own Western 
plains comprised in what was known as the Great 
American Desert, which have often impressed me as the 
most inhospitable land, not even excepting the Sahara, I 
have ever seen, this Hawaiian plain needed only water to 
turn the desert into a fertile field. I laid before the then 
Government of Hawaii my plan for reclaiming this land, 
which in great part belonged to the School Fund. The 
Minister of Foreign Eelations, the Hon. Eobert C. Wyllie, 
a most remarkable man, saw the physical possibilities, but 
also the financial impossibilities, so far as the Government 
was concerned. Years went by, when on a second visit 
to Maui I had the pleasure of seeing that my plan had 
in part been carried out by private parties,. and prosper- 
ing sugar plantations, valued at many millions, occupied 
the once waste land. 

In travelling through Guatemala I was convinced of 
the physical advantages the country possessed, though 
I was not blind to the indisputable fact that of all 
countries I have seen, Guatemala, in common with the 
other States of Central America, makes least use of 
her natural advantages, and does least to overcome those 
obstacles Nature has thrown in her way. My readers 



340 GUATEMALA. 

will pardon me, I trust, if, in briefly discussing the 
present outcome of the soil, I let my imagination, 
trained and curbed by an extended experience, sug- 
gest at the same time what the wonderfully fertile 
lands of Guatemala might yield, properly cultivated. 
While I will endeavor to guard myself from all exag- 




Indian Plough ; a Type of Guatemaltecan Agriculture. 

geration, I cannot conceal from myself the fact that 
those not familiar with tropical luxuriance of growth 
and fruitfulness will not fully acquit me of this fault 
so generally charged to travellers. 

Sugar-cane. — Arranging the products to be described, 
not in a scientific order, but in that sequence which their 
commercial importance seems to suit, sugar-cane easily 
leads ; and this in spite of the difficulties of the labor 
supply, which I deem of more importance than the 
artificial competition of the very inferior sugar-beet. 
It is a bold assertion that no country or climate is 
better suited to the culture of sugar-cane. I have 
watched the growth of four of the choicest varieties ^ 
of cane side by side with that usually cultivated on 
the Atlantic coast (Bourbon), compared this with the 
growth of cane in Louisiana, the West Indies, Guiana, 
the Hawaiian Islands, India, the East Indies, Egypt, and 
the Mauritius, and I have ascertained the cost of cul- 
tivation, expense of living, yield and freight of product 

^ Lahaina, Salangore, Elephant, Ribbon. 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 



341 



to market, in all these various centres of sugar-produc- 
tion, in a much more elaborate way than would be in 
place to record in this book. 

At present the sugar-plantations of any importance 
are on the Pacific side of Guatemala, although some, as 
that of San Geronimo, near Salama, are in the high 
interior. The valley of the Michatoya is full of small 




A Primi-tive Sugar-mill. 



plantations, or ingenios. From the Pacific ports was 
exported in 1883, 44,927.27 cwt. of sugar, valued at 
$223,136.35; in 1884, about 7,000 cwt. less. The home 
consumption of sugar is very great, and most of that 
raised in the Department of Chiquimula is not exported. 
Much of the manufacture is by the rudest wooden mills, 
and the sugar resembles the poorest quality of maple- 
sugar; it is cooled in wooden blocks in hemispherical 



342 



GUATEMALA. 



form, and comes to market wrapped in corn husks, when 
it is called panela. 

That the sugar production may be better under- 
stood, I give the statistics for 1883, as published by 
the Government. A finca is a plantation; a manzana 
equals an acre and three quarters, more or less ; an 
arroba weighs twenty-five pounds, and a quintal one 
hundred pounds. 





Number 


Manzanas 
planted. 


Arrobas 


Loads of 


Arrobas 


Quintals 


Departments. 


of 


of 


panela. 


of 


of 




fincas. 


sugar. 


64 parcels each. 


molasses. 


moscoyado. 


Guatemala . . 


68 


203 


3,259 


1,571 


5,162 


1,472 


Escuintla . . 


55 


1,851 


40,507 


7,315 


66,441 


15,168 


Sacatepequez . 


2 


163 


13,494 


413 


35,765 


45,796 


Chimaltenango 


265 


216 


2,168 


2,128 


13 




Solola . . . 


16 


214 


132 


1,067 


150 




Suchitepequez . 


20 


312 


7,999 


4,149 


9,560 




Retallmleu . . 


31 


305 


4,260 


3,191 


9,825 


' ' "s 


Quezaltenango . 


23 


249 




1,641 


6,661 




San Marcos . . 


66 


252 




6,996 


4,918 




Huehuetenango 


513 


112 


' ' iii 


4,043 


122 




Quiche . . . 


57 


43 




1,256 






Baja Verapaz . 


77 


384 


'2,201 


3,889 


'3.401 


"2,003 


Alta Verapaz . 


61 


157 


411 


867 


632 




Peten .... 


71 


127 




499 






Zacapa . . . 


106 


213 


'4,696 


1,549 


"2,125 


" ' " 8 


Chiquimula . . 


505 


605 


56,254 


17,201 


7,558 


42 


Jalapa . . . 


135 


1,800 


1,052 


741 


269 




Jutiapa . . . 


144 


380 


15,136 


2,202 


6,461 




Santa Rosa . . 


32 


174 


2,719 


6,465 


121 




Totals . . . 


2,247 


7,810 


154,599 


67,183 


159,184 


64,497 








@ $1.75 


@ 5i;8.oo 


@ 25 cts. 


@ |;2.oo 


Value . . . 






$270,548.25 


$537,464 


$39,896 


$128,994 



While this table is by no means exact, it shows 
fairly the amount of saccharine products and their dis- 
tribution. It is curious to note how many very small 
plantations are reported from the Department of Huehue-^ 
tenango yielding almost exclusively the coarse panela. 
In Chiquimula the large proportion of sugar is due to 
foreign enterprise. There the cane-fields are capable of 
irrigation from the Hondo or other streams, and the cane 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 343 

is chiefly a small red variety. Escuintla and Jalapa have 
nearly the same area of cane planted, but the former, by 
superior machinery, produces forty times the amount of 
sugar, and ten times as much pan'ela. The cultivation 
at present is almost confined to burying the seed-cane and 
trashing, that is, stripping the lower leaves twice in a 
season. In the rich valleys of the Atlantic, cane will grow 
nine feet in as many months, will yield four tons of sugar 
to the acre, will rat toon freely for twenty years without 
replanting, and may be ground during nine months of the 
year. Much of the product of the cane is in Guatemala 
converted into aguardiente, or rum. With the exception 
of the experimental plantation to which I have referred, I 
know of no sugar fincas in northern Guatemala, although 
there are several in similar situations in British Honduras. 

It is a well-known saying in this part of the world 
that "Wherever mahogany will grow, there every trop- 
ical product will flourish ; and wherever logwood grows, 
there you can produce the finest rice." Cane certainly 
is no exception to this rule. 

Coffee. — Second on the list may be placed coffee, 
both from the importance of the present product, and 
from its very excellent quality. On the coast the Li- 
berian coffee flourishes, and as the berries do not drop 
as soon as ripe, the trouble of harvesting is much less- 
ened. Most of the crop exported from Livingston 
goes to England, and it has up to the present time been 
difficult to obtain the best quality, except through Eng- 
land. In 1883, 404,069.39 cwt. of a value (at twelve 
cents) of $4,848,832.68 were exported. On this the 
Government levies a tax, varying year by year, pro- 
portioned to the harvest. 



344 



GUATEMALA. 



The present importance of the coffee interest is shown 
by the following table of the coffee crop, commencing 
October, 1883, and ending June, 1884 : — 



Departments. 


Fincas. 


Trees. 


Crop. 


Value. 


Pounds 
per tree. 


. Guatemala . . 
Aniatitlan . . . 
Escuintla . . . 
Sacatepequez . 
Chimaltenango 
Solola .... 
Suchitepequez . 
Retalhuleu . . 
Quezaltenango . 
San Marcos . . 
Huehuetenango . 
Alta Verapaz 
Baja Verapaz . 
Peten . . . . 
Zacapa. . . . 
Chiquimula . . 
Jalapa .... 
Santa Rosa . . 


213 
507 
104 
626 

47 

82 
253 
598 
409 
177 
248 
265 

54 
101 

91 
1,000 

96 
560 


756,484 
5,152,900 
5,914,850 
2,805,400 
3,511,839 
2,287,525 
3,511,839 
5,129,857 
8,903,552 
1,595,488 

627,276 
3,835,084 

900,856 
18,545 
56,410 

908,670 

30,210 

4,354,428 


11,340.26 

45,288.76 

38,560.00 

18,286.18 

27,573.26 

27,993.52 

52,860.32 

33,250.15 

124,779.70 

45,115.68 

7,354.94 

2,883.25 

813.54 

278.36 

182.36 

6,595.52 

206.86 

26,032.45 


$113,402.60 

452,887.60 

385,600.00 ■ 

182,860.80 

275,732.60 

279,935.20 

528,603.20 

332,501.50 

1,247,797.00 

451,156.80 

73,549.40 

288,732.50 

8,135.40 

2.783.60 

1,823.60 

65,955.20 

2,068.60 

260,324.50 


1.50 
0.65 

1.50 

1.50 
0.40 

0.75 

1.50 

0.60 


Totals .... 


5,431 


60,301,213 


495,385.11 


$4,953,850.11 


0.82 



If the figures of this table are correct, the average yield 
throughout the republic is 0.82 lb. per tree ; in Escuintla 
.65 lb. ; in Santa Rosa .60 ; in Guatemala 1.5 ; in Quezal- 
tenango and Peten the same ; in Alta Verapaz .75 ; and 
in San Marcos .40, — figures which show a very large 
number of non-bearing trees. 

Coffee is planted in the shade, and the young plants 
require the protection of banana or other trees until well 
established. Plants are set ten feet apart each way, and 
topped when about six feet high. The Liberian variety 
is large beaned, and although of a lower price than the 
best Arabian, is more prolific, and in the lower lands, where 
the latter does not do well, is certainly more profitable.^ 

^ Even at nine cents per pound it pays as well as the test Jamaica at 
fourteen cents. 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 345 

It begins to bear the third year, produces three to four 
hundred pounds per acre in the fifth year, attains its 
maximum in the tenth, and is old in the thirtieth. 
Coffee exhausts the soil more than any crop except 
tobacco. 

Cacao. — All through the forests of the Atlantic coast 
cacao grows wild, and even in this condition generally of 
choice quality. On the Pacific coast are the chief planta- 
tions, although the amount exported is insignificant (1,492 
lbs. in 1884). Just over the Mexican boundary, in the 
province of Soconusco, grows the most celebrated cacao 
known ; and probably careful selection of seed and cultiva- 
tion would produce the same results in Guatemalan terri- 
tory. Throughout the republic there is probably less cacao 
raised than before the Conquest, when the nib was current 
as money, and chocolate a royal drink. Like the coffee-tree, 
cacao requires protection,-^ which must be continuous, for 
the cacao never outgrows it ; but a thin shade such as the 
India-rubber affords will answer very well, and in this case 
the madre cacao is profitable. A cacao-plantation should 
be in full bearing about the seventh year ; and while the 
curing of the pods requires much care and experience, the 
cultivation of the trees is very simple. The many varie- 
ties and the interesting process by which the bean is pre- 
pared for market are well described in the pamphlet to 
which reference has been made. Plantations in the 
valleys of the Polochic, Chocon, and Motagua would 
yield a rich return. In Guatemala are several factories 
for preparing chocolate from the bean, and I have seen 
samples of very high quality. It is generally, if not 

1 Cacao: How to grow and how to cure it. London: Prepared by the 
Jamaica Government. 



346 



GUATEMALA. 



always, flavored with cinnamon, and when used as a 
beverage is churned or beaten into froth. 




Theobroma Cacao (Chocola-te Tree). 



A Enlarged flower. 
B Stamens and pistil. 
C Andrmcium. 
D Petal. 



E Ovary, vertical. 
F Ovary transverse. 
G Pod section. 
H Ripe pod. 



India-ruhher. — Like the cacao, the Castilloa elastica 
grows wild in all the coast valleys ; but although the Gov- 
ernment has placed a bounty on plantations of this very 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 



347 



desirable tree, few have been formed. Now, as formerly, 
the Indies collect the gum in a very wasteful way, and soon 
the supply will be greatly lessened. I am tempted to 
quote from Juarros ^ what I believe is the earliest notice 




Castilloa elastica (India-rubber Tree). 

of the use of India-rubber for waterproof garments. " On 
pricking the trunk of this tree [ule] an abundant juice 
issues, which serves, as Fuentes assures us, to coat a boot, 
with which one can pass a stream or a swamp dry shod." 

1 Compendio de la Historia de la Ciudad de Guatemala, t. 2, p. 95, ed. 
1818. 



348 GUATEMALA. 

The castilloa grows to a height of about forty to fifty 
feet, and its clean, smooth stem may be two feet in diam- 
eter at the base. The leaves are large, oblong in shape, and 
rather hairy. The foliage is light green in color, and not 
very dense. The small greenish flowers appear in Feb- 
ruary and March, and the seed ripens three months later. 
Mr. Morris^ gives the following account of the rubber 
gathering : — ' 

^^ The castilloa rubber-tree is fit to be tapped for caout- 
chouc, or the gummy substance produced by its milk, 
when about seven to ten years old. The milk is obtained 
at present, from trees growing wild, by men called rubber- 
gatherers, who are well acquainted with all the localities 
inhabited by the Toonu [ule]. The proper season for 
tapping the trees is after the autumn rains, which occur 
some months after the trees have ripened their fruit, and 
before they put forth buds for the next season. The flow 
of milk is most copious during the months of October, 
November, December, and January. The rubber-gatherers 
commence operations on an untapped tree by reaching 
with a ladder, or by means of lianes, the upper portions 
of its trunk, and scoring the bark the whole length with 
deep cuts, which extend all round. The cuts are some- 
times made so as to form a series of spirals all round the 
tree ; at other times they are shaped simply like the letter 
V, with a small piece of hoop-iron, the blade of a cutlass, 
or the leaf of a palm placed at the lower angle to form a 
spout to lead the milk into a receptacle below. A number 
of trees are treated in this manner, and left to bleed for 
several hours. At the close of the day the rubber-gath- 
erer collects all the milk, washes it by means of water, 

1 The Colony of British Honduras. D. Morris, London, 1883, p. 76. 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 349 

and leaves it standing till the next morning. He now pro- 
cures a quantity of the stem of the moon-plant (Calonyc- 
tion speeiosum), pounds it into a mass, and throws it into 
a bucket of water. After this decoction has been strained, 
it is added to the rubber milk in the proportion of one 
pint to a gallon, or until, after brisk stirring, the whole 
of the milk is coagulated. The masses of rubber floating 
on the surface are now strained from the liquid, kneaded 
into cakes, and placed under heavy weights to get rid of 
all watery particles." It is true that either very heavy 
weights are not handy, or the honest Indian wishes to 
sell water at the price of rubber ; for the masses, as I have 
examined them freshly brought in for sale, contain a large 
quantity of water held mechanically in the interstices. 
Alum is sometimes used to coagulate the milk, but is 
thought to render the gum hard and less elastic. A full- 
grown tree should yield about eight gallons of milk when 
first tapped, — which is equivalent to sixteen pounds of 
rubber, worth from ten to twelve dollars. Although the 
law of Guatemala forbids the tapping of young trees, and 
tries to regulate the frequency of the attack, it is ineffect- 
ual to prevent the gradual destruction of the wild trees 
through improvident bleeding, and only the establishment 
of private plantations will prevent the final extinction of 
this most valuable source of rubber. The Para rubber 
[Hevea hrasiliensis) grows only in swamps unfit for culti- 
vation ; the true rubber (Ficus elastica), so popular a house- 
plant, does not seem to thrive and yield a supply of rubber 
away from its native East Indies ; and the Ceara rubber 
of South America [Maniliot Glaziovi) is not of easy culti- 
vation, so that the Castilloa certainly promises to be the 
tree, of the many known to produce rubber, most likely 



350 GUATEMALA. 

to supply in cultivation that useful gum civilized nations 
cannot now do without, although the science of adulter- 
ation has progressed so far that an ordinary pair of 
so-called rubber boots contain hardly a spoonful of the 
pure gum, the rest being sulphur, coal-tar, and other 
matters. 

The trees should be planted forty feet apart ; and as the 
seed is very perishable, it should be planted, or at least 
packed in earth, as soon as gathered. 

Sarsaparilla. — One of the most troublesome vejucos, 
or vines, common all through the forests of the Atlan- 
tic seaboard is the zarza, or sarsaparilla. Probably the 
American public is familiar with the popular remedies 
compounded in part with this valuable medicinal plant, 
which, belonging to the Smilax family, affects damp, 
warm forests, climbing to great heights over the trees. 
The portion used is the long, tough root ; this the zarza- 
gatherer digs and pulls from the loose soil, replanting 
the stem, which in due time replaces its stolen roots, 
to be again robbed. The roots are washed, loosely bun- 
dled, and sold to the dealers, who have the fibres made 
up into tight rolls, a few hundred of which are then 
pressed together and sewed up in the thickest hide that 
can be found ; for the " custom of trade " includes the 
wrapper in the tare of the more costly drug. Most of the 
sarsaparilla exported from Belize comes from Guatemala 
and Honduras ; but from Livingston more than 60,000 
pounds were exported in 1884, of an appraised value of 
ten cents per pound. The plant is easily propagated by 
cuttings or seeds, and of course needs no cultivation or 
clearing; the yield will average twenty pounds of dried 
root from each plant. 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 351 

Bananas and Plantains. — No export from Guatemala 
has increased more rapidly in value than have the pro- 
ducts under this head. The permanent establishment of 
lines of steamers between New Orleans and Livingston, 
and the bounty offered by the Government, stimulated the 
planting of many small fincas along the shores and on 
the river-banks. Under contract with the steamship com- 
panies, the producer sells his bananas at 50 cents a 
bunch (of not less than eight hands) during five months 
of the year, and for 37^ cents the rest of the year. The 
cost of production may be placed at 121 cents per bunch. 
All these prices are in silver currency of the value of the 
sham dollar of the United States. Plantains are sold at 
25 cents a bunch of twenty-five, sometimes commanding 
$1.25 per hundred. The profits of this business go, as 
usual, not to the jDi'oducer, but to the middle-man or the 
steamer-companies. For example, a man raises a hun- 
dred bunches of good fruit ; the cost to him is $12.50 
delivered on board the steamer. He is paid in the best 
season $50 in silver, for which he can get $40 in Amer- 
ican gold. The steamer people, after a voyage of four 
days, during which all their expenses are paid by the 
passenger-list and the Government mail-subsidies, sell the 
bananas on the wharf in New Orleans for $125 in gold, 
or its equivalent, — clearing $85 ; while the planter, for 
a year's labor put into the bananas, gets $30. I have 
put the price paid the planter at the highest, and the 
sales in New Orleans at the lowest. The loss is insignifi- 
cant at these figures, and it is not uncommon for the 
profits of a single round trip of two weeks to exceed 
$40,000. Half this shared with the planter would make 
him rich. 



352 



GUATEMALA. 



If the planting of bananas is to profit the grower, he 
must raise enough — say twenty thousand bunches a 
montli — to freight his own steamer, and be independent 
of the present monopohes of the Itahan fruiterers. The 
extent of this business is seen in the fact that from Liv- 
ingston in 1883 were exported 29,699 bunches, and in 
1884, 54,633, or nearly double the amount. 

This is not the proper place to enter into a detailed 
history of the banana, its culture and its varieties ; but 

there is much un- 
certainty in the 
Northern mar- 
kets as to the dis- 
tinction between 
bananas and plan- 
tains, which it 
may be well to re- 
move. At pres- 
ent plantains are 
not brought to the 
Boston or New 
York markets. Botanically^ it is difficult to distinguish 
between these two fruits, as connecting varieties run 
imperceptibly into the two extremes ; no one, however, 
would ever mistake a typical plantain for a banana, 
either single or in bunch. Of all the varieties of the 
banana (and I have myself seen at least two hundred, 
including the seeding-banana of Chittagong), only two 
or three are raised for exportation in Guatemala, and 
these are by no means the best ; but as the steamer 
people will give no more for a choice variety, there 
is no inducement to improve the stock. Both yellow 




Bunch of Plantains (young). 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 



353 



and red varieties are grown, and the former some- 
times have two hundred and fifty bananas on a bmich, 
weighing, unripe, ninety pounds. The plantain is yellow 
when ripe (I have never seen a red variety), and is much 
larger and more curved than a banana, while the bunches 
are looser and much smaller, seldom numbering more 
than thirty-five fruits. Some plantains attain a length 
of fifteen inches, and some are quite palatable uncooked ; 
but the usual way to eat them is either baked or fried. 
Few of our Northerners appreciate the wonderful nu- 
tritive qualities of the plantain, which in this respect 
surpasses the banana ; and it may be authoritatively 
stated that sixteen hundred and seven square feet of 
rich land will produce four thousand pounds of nutritive 
substance from plantains, which will support fifty per- 
sons, while the same land planted with wheat will support 
but two. When the plantain is dried, it will keep from 
twenty to thirty years ; and if dried before ripening, an 
admirable meal (better than arrowroot) can be made 
from the ground white fruits, while the ripe fruit forms a 
conserve not unlike a fig in flavor, and of course free 
from the seeds so troublesome in that fruit. One hun- 
dred parts of the fresh fruit contain twenty-seven parts 
of nutritive matter, easily digested and superior to pure 
starch. The comparative cost and profit of the two fruits 
may be thus stated : — 

Banana. Plantain. 

$1.00 

20.00 300 bunches 15,000 fruits 

2.^0. at .50 at $1.25 

10.00 less cost per hundred 
10.00 



Cost of one acre of land 
Clearing and planting . 
430 stools .... 
Care to first crop . 
Shipping .... 



.50 
23 



$106.50 



$144.00 



354 GUATEMALA. 

The second year the increase would be in favor of the 
plantain, and the product has reached more than thirty- 
five thousand per acre. Of the fibre no account has 
been taken, although this bids fair to become an impor- 
tant by-product. The plantain contains more fibre than 
the banana, — the inner portion in both stems being 
much finer. At present the possible four pounds of fibre 
in each stem is wasted ; and as the stems should be cut to 
the ground after the fruit is gathered, these large fibrous 
trunks are much in the way of cultivation. It will be 
remembered that the Manilla hemp is the product of a 
species of banana {Musa textilis). 

Usually bananas or plantains are planted in a, cafetal 
or in a cacao or orange orchard, to shade the young 
plants, and after three or four years are removed as the 
more permanent trees attain their growth. All the fruit 
exported must be cut and shipped while quite green and 
not fully grown ; and this, conjoined to the tar and bilge 
smell of the steamers, certainly gives the fruit a flavor it 
does not have in its native land when allowed to attain 
its full growth and then slowly ripened under shelter 
from the sun. Bananas, like some pears, should not be 
allowed to ripen on the trees. 

There are two articles of food and commerce which 
should certainly attract the attention of merchants, and 
so of the public, in our Northern States, — fresh plan- 
tains, as a most nutritious and delicious vegetable, more 
costly than the banana, though of easier transport ; and 
the dried plantain, for \vhlcli th*^re is already an in- 
creasing market on the Pacific coast. 

Pita and Sisal Hemj?. — The mention of the plan- 
tain-fibre calls to mind two very valuable fibrous plants 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 355 

at present little cultivated in Guatemala, except for 
home consumption. The ^ji^a, or silk-grass {Bromelia 
pita) belongs to the pineapple family, and is very com- 
monly used for hedges in the interior of the country. 
The long sharp leaves are rotted, and the fibre ex- 
tracted by the rudest means, usually by pounding on 
stones in a running stream; but the product makes 
most durable and desirable hammocks and bags and 
cords. The other plant is most cultivated in Yucatan, 
whence the name Sisal hemp, from the shipping port. 
It is also called henequen {Agave ixtli), and much re- 
sembles the century-plant. Com.mon over the mountain- 
ranges, certainly to a height of eight thousand feet, it 
is little used, except for hedges. From Yucatan it is 
exported to the annual value of $500,000. The ixtli 
grows in poor dry ^oil and is easily propagated by 
cuttings. An American machine removes the pulp and 
cleans the fibre at the rate of a leaf a minute, and the 
product is then baled and shipped without further trouble. 
The fibre, according to the '' Textile Eecord," costs the 
planter two thirds of a cent per pound, the freight to 
New York is three quarters of a cent, and with com- 
missions and incidental expenses, the total charge per 
pound is a cent and a half, and it sells for from five 
to seven cents per pound. In the English market Sisal 
hemp is quoted at £30 per ton. 

The species and varieties of the agaves or henequen 
and pulque plants are not clearly distinguished ; but two 
types are tolerably distinct. Agave Americana, or maguey, 
is cultivated in Mexico for the juice which when fer- 
mented is called pulque. The plant after some years of 
growth in a stemless condition throws up a stem very 



356 



GUATEMALA. 



rapidly to a height of forty feet, or even more. The 
Mexican cultivator, however, nips this stem before it has 

attained two feet ; and 
scooping a large hol- 
low in the cut stump, 
waits for the sap to 
collect. The yield from 
a vigorous plant — and 
the sap continues to 
run for three months 
— is from two to three 
hundred gallons ! The 
agave, it must be re- 
membered, grows in the 
driest soil. The fibre 
of the leaf is very 
strong, and is used to 
make paper of the 
toughest and most du- 
rable kind. 

The Agave ixtli, or 
henequen, is larger than 
the last species. When 
the plants are three 
years old the leaves 
may be cut, and a good 
plant should yield from 
fifty to a hundred 
leaves annually, the 
cutting being repeated every four months. The contin- 
uous fibres in a leaf are sometimes five and a half feet 
long, and are used by the natives without spinning. 




Pounding Rice. 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 357 

The life of the ixtli subjected to this pruning and not 
allowed to flower, may extend to ten years, but usually 
is several years less. 

Bromelia pita produces a much finer and stronger fibre, 
but is not so easy to handle. As these fibres come to 
market they are often confounded, even by the Indios, 
and the term " pita " is not infrequently applied to the 
product of agaves, and even of plantains. 

The genus Fourcroya, closely allied to agave, also yields 
valuable fibres. 

Rice. — The upland variety grows remarkably well 
in the bottom-lands of the Chocon River, producing 
two crops a year of very heavy rice. All through 
the logwood country it might profitably be cultivated ; 
but up to the present time not enough has been raised 
fairly to determine how much the yield per acre may 
be. There are no suitable rice-mills, and the grain is 
hulled by the rude and wasteful method of pounding 
in mortars. 

Oranges. — The delusion which has led so many to 
plant orange-trees on the frost-visited sand-banks of 
Florida has at least turned the attention of Americans 
to the desirability of orange-walks not too remote from 
our principal fruit-markets. The Florida oranges, while 
sweet and juicy, are wanting in flavor, especially the 
mandarin variety, which is far inferior to the fruit 
of that variety raised in China. Even the Louisiana 
oranges, which are generally superior to those from 
Florida, are not first-rate, and in both States I have 
seen the foliage utterly destroyed by frost, — an acci- 
dent which must seriously interfere with the succeed- 
ing crop. As a substitute for these unsuitable regions, 



358 GUATEMALA. 

Guatemala offers great advantages. At Teleman, on 
the Polochic, the quahty of the uncultivated fruit is 
nearly equal to the Syrian oranges ; that is, finer than 
any I have seen in Jamaica or the West Indies gener- 
ally, — and the same fruit can be raised on all the bot- 
tom-lands of the Atlantic coast. Lemons do not do so 
well, as this fruit requires a cooler climate and must 
be relegated to the higher interior valleys ; but limes 
grow wild in remarkable perfection, being often used 
as hedge-plants. Raised from seed, the plants at three 
years are six feet high, and in five are bearing. On 
the western side limas, or sweet lemons, citrons, and 
toranjas, or shaddocks, grow very well. Oranges of 
many varieties can be grown in the greatest perfec- 
tion in the rich valleys ; and yet it is difficult to ob- 
tain oranges enough for home consumption even where 
the alcaldes are not so stupid as one reported during 
the cholera scare in 1884, who ordered all the orange- 
trees in his village to be cut down, as their fruit was 
sure to cause cholera ! Along the coast of Honduras, 
near Trujillo, I have bought for one dollar a barrel the 
finest limes I ever saw. 

Coconuts. — On the sandy shores, where no other fruit 
will grow, the coconut flourishes. As a rule the nuts 
are not so large as those of the Pacific Islands ; but I 
have seen some of good size on the north shore of the 
Island of Roatan. The low, sandy cayos and the 
equally low shores of Manabique are admirably suited 
for coconut-walks. In one place on the Hondureilan 
coast a large factory was established at great cost, but 
for some reason not known to the writer it has been 
abandoned ; and now, nowhere on the northern coast of 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 359 

Guatemala is any organized attempt to prepare either 
the oil or fibre (coir or cobre), and the nuts are shipped 
to the United States or to England. Prolific bearers, 
these palms require no care after they come into bear- 
ing in the fourth year; and as they bear heavily by 
the seventh year, a young walk soon becomes a source 
of profit. Usually a tree produces a flower-spathe every 
month; so there are generally on a tree nuts in all 
stages. . On a single spadix I have counted five thou- 
sand nine hundred and fifty staminate or male blos- 
soms, and fifty-two pistillate or female. Of the latter 
not more than thirty, and usually only twenty, develop 
into nuts; but a young tree in a good soil will proba- 
bly bear three hundred and sixty nuts per annum, 
worth 1 9. In a walk, however, it is a good tree 
that is worth |3 per annum. 

The trade in green nuts is of course limited ; but they 
usually sell at the rate of two cents apiece. No more 
delicious drink is found in the tropical fruits than the 
rich milk of the nut when so green that the shell is easily 
cut with a knife. When fully ripe, the nuts may be 
piled in a damp place and left to germinate. The milk 
disappears, and its place is occupied by a porous mass 
completely filling the cavity and of the consistency of 
sponge-cake, quite edible withal. As the shoot pushes 
through the eye and breaks through the thick husk, the 
innocent-looking sponge seems to absorb the meat of 
the coconut ; when this is finished, the plant has, as it 
were, hatched itself from the old shell, and is ready to 
continue life on its own basis. The coconut presents a 
good illustration of the development of pinnate or feather 
leaves from palmate (or leaves shaped like a fan), — all 



360 



GUATEMALA. 



the early leaves of this palm being of the latter class, 
while the noble leaves of the mature palm are long 
pinnate. 

If the trees are planted about sixty to the acre in 
ordinary situations, such a plantation should not cost, 




Growth of a Young Coconut. 

including the land, more than forty dollars until the trees 
bear ; and in eight years the planter may expect a crop 
of at least eight thousand nuts annually, — which should 
net him about two hundred dollars. It is a great mis- 
take to plant the nut on the surface of the ground, as it 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 361 

is liable to be overturned by the winds, or too thick, as 
it then grows tall and spindly, and bears poorly. 

The exports of coconuts from Belize during six years 
previous to 1882, as given by Mr. Morris,^ are shown 
thus : — 



1876 . . 


. . 381,000 


1879 . . 


, . 919,000 


1877 . . 


. . 604,000 


1880 . . 


, . 1,623,000 


1878 . . 


. . 698,000 


1881 . , 


, . 6,047,160 



A remarkable increase, that shows that the profits induce 
more extensive planting. As to the duration of a fruitful 
coconut, I have not sufficient data. I have seen old trees 
on Utila that had been growing less than twenty-five 
years, and I have seen trees still bearing on the shores of 
Hawaii which are distinctly marked with the cannon- 
balls Captain Cook's ships fired at the village of Kaawaloa 
after the great navigator's tragic death, more than a cen- 
tury ago ; and these trees must have been well grown 
at that remote day. I may add that on the Hawaiian 
Group few coconuts bear before they are seven years old, 
— some not until they are fourteen. 

Pineapples. — No systematic cultivation of this most 
delicious fruit has been undertaken in Guatemala, al- 
though the wild pines are of good quality. The ]oina 
de azucar, or sugar-pine, is large (over six pounds), and 
very tender and juicy ; but the horse-pine has more 
flavor. On the Chocon plantation the pine-fields planted 
in the lighter soil do very well, but require cleaning 
five times each year. The sprouts from the base of 
the fruit are planted, and after two years the stock has 
spread so as to produce several pines annually. Three 

1 British Honduras, p. 100. 



362 GUATEMALA. 

thousand plants to the acre should yield, at six cents 
per pine, a hundred and twenty dollars the first crop, 
and a hundred and eighty dollars afterwards. Whether 
these fine fruits can profitably drive the inferior pineapples 
of the West Indies from our markets, is yet doubtful. 
A wild pine, in which the fruit is not crowded into a 
compact head, but is more acid and of less flavor, is 
common in the mountains ; but I have never seen this 
species offered for sale. 

Nutmegs. — While I do not know of a dozen trees of 
the nutmeg, outside of the Chocon plantation, the soil and 
climate are admirably suited to this tree. The nutmeg 
requires at least eighty inches of rainfall per annum, 
begins to bear when eight or ten years old, and improves 
for a century. The first few years the yield is from one 
to five thousand nuts, of from sixty-eight to one hundred 
and twenty to the pound. In the Botanic Gardens, Trini- 
dad, the net yield per tree has been more than twenty 
pounds (say eighteen hundred nuts), with an average 
price of fifty-four cents per pound. This would amount 
to three hundred and fifty dollars per acre. The value of 
the mace is additional. In the Chocon region the trees 
have not yet matured ; but there seems no doubt that the 
conditions of growth and fruitfulness are better than on 
the Island of Trinidad, and with these trees planted 
thirty feet apart, or forty-five to an acre, allowing one 
third to be male or barren trees, we should have at least 
1,60.0 X 30 = 48,000 nutmegs to the acre. Averaging the 
nuts at ninety to the pound, the crop would weigh five 
hundred and thirty-three pounds, and at fifty cents per 
pound would amount to two hundred and sixty-six dol- 
lars. Considering the less expense for care this perma- 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 363 

neiit crop would require, the profit would be sufficient 
even at forty cents per pound. The red, fresh mace does 
not bring so high a price as when old and golden-colored. 
Maiz. — Indian corn {Zea mmjs) grows well all over 
the republic, and forms the most important food of the 
Indian tribes. Yet the kinds cultivated are not of fine 
quality, although growing freely. The stalks are often 
a dozen feet high, and three ears are not uncommon. 
Three crops can be raised annually. The corn is always 
stored and transported in the husk. When the Spaniards 
first came among the Central Americans, they found the 
milpas of maiz carefully cultivated ; and as to-day the 
little cornfields are found all over the country cultivated 
precisely as the ancients were doing centuries ago, so the 
product is to-day prepared and eaten in the same old-time 
manner. Mr. Belt,-^ in his work on Nicaragua, — unfor- 
tunately too little known, — describes the preparation of 
maiz better than I have seen done elsewhere. He says : 
" In Central America the bread made from the maiz is 
prepared at the present day exactly as it was in ancient 
Mexico. The grain is first of all boiled, along with 
wood-ashes or a little lime. The alkali loosens the outer 
skin of the grain, and this is rubbed off with the hands in 
running water ; a little of it at a time is placed upon a 
slightly concave stone, — called a metatle, from the Aztec 
metatl, — on which it is rubbed with another stone, 
shaped like a rolling-pin. A little water is thrown on it 
as it is bruised, and it is thus formed into paste. A ball 
of the paste is taken and flattened out between the hands 
into a cake about ten inches diameter and three six- 
teenths inch thick, which is baked on a slightly concave 

* The Naturalist in Nicaragua, p. 56. 



364 GUATEMALA. 

earthenware [or iron] pan. The cakes so made are 
called tortillas, and are very nutritious. When trav- 
elling, I preferred them myself to bread made from 
wheaten flour. When well made and eaten warm, they 
are very palatable." 

Besides the importance of this grain for human food, 
it is necessary for the horses, who could not well endure 
the hard steep roads on sacate alone. Much might be 
exported to the neighboring republics. 

Wheat. — Throughout the uplands much wheat is grown. 
The straw is generally small, but the grain heavy and 
good. In the grain centres, such as Solola, the wheat 
is inspected and weighed by Government ofhcials. The 
seed is sown in drills rather than broadcast. I found the 
bread made from this home wheat of a uniformly good 
quality, though sometimes dark colored, — indeed it is 
superior to the bread found in the country throughout 
the United States. 

Potatoes, and other Food-Plants. — However the philos- 
opher may try to confine his attention to those products 
of a country which may have a commercial value, be he 
cynic or epicurean he will be interested in those fruits 
and vegetables not necessary to the support of life, but 
none the less very important factors in human comfort. 
I have briefly noticed the principal fruits that may be 
exported from Guatemala, and have passed unnoticed 
the scores of valuable woods, because I can add nothing 
to the general knowledge of these. For the same reason 
I have omitted the hundred and one drugs or medicinal 
plants; but I should fail in my duty to this pleasant 
country if I did not tell of some of those fruits and 
vegetables that add to the pleasure of life. 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 365 

The common potato I have already mentioned in a 
former chapter (p. 136). The sweet potato {Batatas 
edulis) will grow in all its varieties, from the huge purple- 
fleshed tuber to the delicate little yellow form ; but it is 
very little cultivated. The yam (Dioscorea) is much 
more common, but dry and tasteless. The cocos or kalo 
( Colocasium esculentum) grows well in the wetter lands, 
but is more common in Belize than in Guatemala, and 
in neither place attains the prominence as a vegetable 
that it enjoys in the Pacific Islands or in China and the 
East Indies. The cassava {Manihot utilissima), so impor- 
tant a food in South America, is here mostly confined to 
Carib use, and I have never seen it inland or on the south 
coast ; as a dietary its importance merits attention, and 
it should be exported. In a dry climate it keeps well, 
and I have specimens four years old still perfectly good. 
Frijoles, or beans, black, white, and red, are very abundant 
and good. The Mexicans are the greatest consumers 
of beans in the world, and their neighbors southward 
probably rank next. 

The breadfruit {Artocarpus incisa) grows remarkably 
well in Livingston and Belize, although I think the fruit is 
smaller than in the Pacific islands. Carefully baked when 
full grown, but not ripe, it is a fine vegetable, and the 
baked fruit sliced and fried is a delicacy. The odor of 
the uncooked fruit is very unpleasant. Squashes, cucum- 
bers (including a small spiny wild one which is very 
good), melons, grow well, and pumpkins are planted 
among the corn, as in New England. Indeed, the variety 
of squashes is very great, and one may see a dozen or 
fifteen kinds in a single heap. They are fed to cattle as 
pumpkins are with us. Some are so hard that they keep 



366 GUATEMALA. 

a long time. The chiote {Seehium edule) is a rapid grow- 
ing runner, often covering the houses, and bearing a fruit 
about the shape of a pear and three inches thick, covered 
with soft prickles. This was abundant all through the 
villages, and in the plazas it was sold parboiled, fried, 
or preserved in sugar. It tastes much like a vegetable 
marrow. 

Tomatoes grow everywhere, and are of great impor- 
tance in the kitchen, next to the universal chile (Caj?- 
sicum annuum). Peppers of other kinds are used, 
especially a large green one which is stuffed with minced 
meat coated with Qgg and crumbs and served as Chile 
relleno. Pawpaws (Carica papaya) are common (a small 
wild species is abundant on the Pacific coast) ; and the 
fruit, as large as a cantaloupe, and filled with pungent 
seeds like those of the tropaeolum, is eaten raw, or cooked 
in tarts. Its juice is of the greatest use in making tough 
meat tender. The akee {Blighia sapida) is much like a 
custard when cooked. 

The avocado {Per sea gratissima) is one of the fruits 
that have many names. In Peru it is called palta, and 
the Mexican aliuacail was twisted by the Spaniards into 
aguacate and avocado, and the English corrupted this last 
into alligator-pear. Intermediate, like the carica, be- 
tween vegetable and fruit, few strangers like the aguacate 
at first. There are many varieties ; but the best is pear- 
shaped, weighing about a pound, with a shiny purple, 
leathery skin. Between the skin and the rather large 
kernel is a greenish pulp nearly an inch thick, which is 
the edible part of this delicious fruit. It is of a buttery 
consistency, and may serve as substitute for butter, and 
be eaten alone, or with salt and pepper. The sapote 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 367 

(Lucuma mammosa) somewhat resembles the aguacate in 
jhe size and position of the edible pulp ; but the outside 
is rough and brown, and the salmon-colored interior is 
insipid and inferior. 

Among the first rank of fruits may be placed the 
mango (Mangifera indica), although the West Indian is 
far inferior to the East Indian representative. As a mere 
shade-tree the mango is beautiful ; but the rich juicy, 
golden-meated fruit, slightly tinged with a flavor of 
turpentine in the poorer sorts, is a never-to-be-forgotten 
delight. The unripe fruit is good baked or made into a 
sauce, when it much resembles apples in taste. The slip- 
pery, juicy meat, and the strong fibres which attach this 
to the large flat stone, make it anything but an easy task 
for the novice to eat this fruit ; he should have plenty of 
water and napkins within reach. When the tree does 
not bear well, root-pruning may be resorted to, although 
the natives usually hack the stem. I have planted seeds 
of the sour mango sent from Hawaii, and they have 
grown rapidly and promise well. The mango may be 
grafted as easily, it is said, as the cherry or apple. 

The icaco {Chrysobalanus icaco), or coco-plum, grows 
near the shore, and makes an excellent preserve; so 
does the manzanilla, a small crab-apple. 

In the interior, a tree very commonly used for fences is 
the jocote (Spondias purpurea.^). This bears a plum-like 
fruit all over the smaller branches, which is either yellow 
or red when ripe, and very juicy. The stone closely 
resembles a medium-sized peanut. The juice when fer- 
mented makes a very popular dvink (CJiicha). To prop- 
agate the tree it is only necessary to plant a branch or 
cutting, which may be several inches in diameter, and it 



368 GUATEMALA. 

takes root and bears the next season. I am not sure of 
the species of spondias, but it is much smaller than the 
S. dulcis of the Pacific Islands, and more like the hog- 
plum of Jamaica. Peaches grow in the highlands, but 
of the poorest quality, and the trees are in blossom and 
fruit at the same time. Figs grow very well; yet the 
Guatemaltecans import canned figs from New Orleans. 
The star-apple ( Chrysophyllum cainito), so popular in the 
West Indies, the mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), the 
most delicious fruit of the East Indies, the loquat [Erio- 
hotrya japonica), the durian {Durio zibethinus), that foul- 
smelling but pleasant-tasting fruit, the bhel {jEgle 
marmelos), the Marquesan plum {Spondias didcis), and a 
host of others might grow here, but do not. 

Guavas or goyavas grow wild, but are of very poor 
quality ; I have not found the very fine strawberry gua- 
vas, but have planted seeds of the black guava, the best 
of its kind. Cherimoyers {A7iona cherimolia) are very 
common in the uplands, extending even into the region 
of occasional frosts. A red-pulped variety is much prized. 
The sour-sop {Anona muricata) is cultivated all along the 
coast, and is seldom absent from a Carib village. Grapes 
groAV finely on the Pacific slope, and would probably do 
equally well on the north. That most pleasing fruit of 
the passion-flower {Passijlora sp.), the granadilla, or water- 
lemon, may be found, in the season, for sale in every plaza 
in the highlands. The more common kind is of the size 
of a large hen's egg, and the tough shell contains an aror 
matic jelly of which one can eat almost without limit ; 
this fruit is sold at ten for acuartil (3 cents). The larger 
species has a fine purple blossom as large as a saucer, 
while the fruit is more than a foot long. These vines 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 369 

are easily propagated by cuttings. The tamarind ( Jam- 
arindus officinalis) is found all over the country, and its 
pulpy pods make a wholesome and cooling drink. There 
are many other fruits which I have not tasted and can- 
not describe ; but they are generally those that a stranger 
does not especially like, nor are they abundant. While 
our common garden vegetables can be easily raised, if 
kept from ants, especially from the ravages of the zom- 
popos, there are few gardens that contain any of them. 

With food for man, it is important to provide well for 
his faithful servants, horses, mules, and cattle. On the 
uplands the pasturage is good, and the sheep and neat 
cattle thrive. On the lowlands and in the river valleys 
grass must be planted, and the Guinea grass [Panicum 
jumentorum) and Bahama grass (Cynodon dactylon) are 
usually chosen. On the ridges Paspalum disticJmm grows 
naturally, and in the interior the grass is the same, I am 
told, as that of the famous plains of Yoro, Olancho, and 
Comayagua in Honduras, where one acre will pasture two 
animals, while in Texas four acres will barely feed one. 

The fauna of Guatemala has been almost as much neg- 
lected as the flora; but although insect-life seems abun- 
dant, and man}^ of the rivers swarm with fish, I believe 
that animal life is comparatively scarce. Game certainly 
is, red-deer, peccaries, javias, turkeys, and pigeons being 
almost the whole bag. Among the mammals the monkeys 
are here fairly represented, the little white-faced (Cebus 
albifrons) being the most attractive. This monkey has a 
face nearly devoid of hair, and as white as a European. 
The hands and feet are very well formed, the nails espe- 
cially so, and the tail is quite long. It seems less difficult 
for him to stand erect than for most monkeys, and when 

24 



370 GUATEMALA. 

domesticated (an easy process) he is an affectionate pet. 
The howling-monkeys [Mycetes stentor) will be remem- 
bered by every traveller as the noisiest of the noctur- 
nal animals. Several other small monos are common 
in the iorests {Simia apella, S. fatuellus, and ;S'. capucina), 
where they feed on wild-figs and other fruits. The pezote 
[Nassua solitaria) is found in the forests of the eastern 
mountain-ranges. 

The manatee, or lamantin [Manatus Ameriecmus), once 
found in the Golfo Dulce, is now seldom, if ever, seen on 
the coast of Guatemala, although still found in British 
Honduras, where the hide is used for whips, canes, etc. 
I have seen the tracks of the danta [Tapirus Americanus) 
in the Chocon forests, but never the animal, as its habits 
are more nocturnal than mine. Conies {Lepus Douglassi), 
taltusas {Geomys heterodus), mapachines {Procyon cancri- 
vorus), and armadillos (Dasyjms sp.) are common articles 
of food among the Indies. Red-deer {Cervus dama) are 
found in the interior. Peccaries (Jdbali, Dicotyles tajagu) 
feed in droves in the bottom-lands, and are perhaps the 
most dangerous of the wild animals of Guatemala ; their 
sharp tusks will cut terribly, and the little beast is too 
stupid to be frightened away when thoroughly angered. 
It is said that even the jaguar fears to attack a drove, but 
skulks behind, hoping to pick up a straggler. They can, 
however, be tamed, and I have seen them with domestic 
pigs about the streets of San Felipe, Pansos, and other 
places. The white-lipped peccary, jaguilla, or warree 
[Dicotyles torquatus), makes its presence known at a con- 
siderable distance by the peculiar odor emitted from a 
small pouch on its back. The hunter, when killing, takes 
care to cut this sack out at once, or it would quickly taint 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 371 

the entire body of this otherwise good pork. In the open 
forests I have often found peccary tracks, but never unac- 
companied by the full, round print of the jaguar. When 
pursued, the peccary takes readily to the water, and swims 
rivers. The jaguar, or tigre, as he is always called in 
Central America, is not a very dangerous animal, as he 
fears man much more than man fears him. The tigre is 
especially fond of dogs, and will enter a house at night to 
carry off the prized morsel ; sometimes when hungry he 
will persistently resist all efforts to drive him away from 
a house-yard, and one of my monteros was attacked by one 
when sleeping in the forest. In this case the tigre was in 
complete darkness, and was badly gashed by the man's 
machete ; but so far from being frightened, he actually pur- 
sued the montero naore than a mile to the nearest house, 
where a gun was obtained and the wounded animal shot. 
I have seen skins between five and six feet long, exclusive 
of head and tail. The puma {Felis concolor) is more com- 
mon in the mountain regions, and the " lion " that de- 
scended from the Volcan de Agua and ravaged the country 
about the young City of Guatemala [antigua) was of this 
species. The ocelot [Leoparclus parclalis) and coyote ( Canis 
ochropus) are also found in the interior. 

Of creeping things the warm regions of the earth 
are supposed to be prolific. I had been told of the ter- 
rible serpents, — the boas that hung from the trees and 
whipped up deer, the deadly tomagoff, and others, until 
I was ready to see their folds around every tree, or their 
coils under every bush. I was to be deprived of a swim 
in the rivers and lakes because of the alligators, and I 
must beware of scorpions and centipedes. Now^, in fact, 
the alligators are few in number, small in size, and very 



Ol7 



72 GUATEMALA. 

deficient in courage. There are a hundred in Florida to 
every one in Gruatemala, and I seldom got a shot at any ; 
I was able to kill only one, and he was not over seven 
feet in length. A much larger one came ashore to lay 
her eggs near a house on the Chocon plantation, and was 
killed. The musky odor of the alligator is very strong 
during the breeding season, and the eggs (which are 
eaten by the Caribs) have a very strong flavor. They 
are small, — less than three inches long, — alike at each 
end, and rough ; when dry, the shells contract, and finally 
split in spiral strips. Young alligators, not more than a 
foot long, are eaten, it is said, by the Indies. 

The iguana I have already described. So abundant are 
these delicious reptiles that they are sometimes brought 
to Belize by the dory-load ; and one may see several hun- 
dred Caribs each carrying home one or two iguanas, still 
alive, but with toes tied together, over the back. Of 
other lizards there are many kinds, from the harmless 
little fellows which make a squeaking in the thatch at 
night, to the long-tailed, crested lizards which rob the 
hens' nests and even make way with the small chickens. 
Presh-water turtles are abundant, and one, the hikatee, 
is excellent eating ; so are its eggs, of the size of a pul- 
let's, of which some two or three dozen are found in a 
nest six or eight inches below the surface of the sand. 
The sexes are easily distinguished by the shape of the tail, 
the female having a shorter and thicker one. The sea-tur- 
tle (including the hawksbill, so valuable for the tortoise- 
shell) are very abundant, and are caught in seines by the 
use of floating decoys. Some of these tin^tle weigh one 
hundred and fifty pounds, and their steaks are white and 
tender as the best veal. I have never been on the shore 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 373 

at the egg-season, and so can say nothing of the taste ; 
but I am told they are much inferior to the eggs of the 
iguana. It is a common thing to capture sea-turtles which 
have had a flapper bitten off by sharks, and usually the 
wound has healed well, the soft scales covering the stump 
completely. 

Of the frogs, the most troublesome are those which get 
into the cisterns or behind the water-jars, and make a 
very loud and disagreeable noise. 

On the Atlantic coast snakes are much less common 
than on the Pacific. Two long, slender snakes, quite 
harmless, — one green, the other reddish-brown, — are 
seen once in a while ; but although the natives believe 
that all snakes are poisonous, only the tomagoff, — a 
short, thick snake of dark color, — the rattlesnake, and 
the coral snake are really venomous, and these are rarely 
seen. Stories are told of boas seen lying across a road 
with head and tail concealed in the trees on either side ; 
but they lack confirmation, and perhaps may be classed 
wdth the absurd snake story told by Juarros.^ 

The supply of fish is good. The saw-fish grows to a 
great size, and its teeth are very long and sharp. The 
jew-fish is large, weighing several hundred pounds, and is 
good food. Snappers, mullet, bone-fish, king-fish, and a 
score of others of which we know only the local names, 
including one with solid red meat, are found in the rivers 
and bays. Of crustaceans, the crayfish takes the place of 
the lobster, and a small crab is common among the man- 
groves and in swampy forests ; larger crabs come to the 
shores in breeding-time, but not in such numbers as at 
Belize. 

^ Compendio, t. ii. p. 94, Concerning the Tepulciiat. 



374 GUATEMALA. 

Scorpions are large and dreaded ; but their sting is not 
more painful than that of a hornet, and they are sluggish, 
and not abundant even in their chosen haunts. Centi- 
pedes are seen on the tree-stems, and many are drowned 
during the rains. This articulate is by no means quick 
in its motions, and falls a prey to the agile cockroach. 

Spiders are abundant, both in species and individuals ; 
and Mr. Frederick Sarg, of Guatemala, has drawn most 
beautifully, and carefully described, many new species. 
The hairy tarantula is the most dreaded ; but others found 
on the rocks by the river-sides are perhaps larger. 

The birds of Guatemala are of great beauty ; and the 
quetzal [Macropharus mocino), the pavo [Meleagris ocel- 
lata), and the curassow, are perhaps unsurpassed in splen- 
dor of plumage. The wild turkey was supposed to be 
peculiar to Honduras, but has been found in Verapaz. 
Toucans with enormous bills and brilliant colors, parrots 
even more brightly colored, especially the guacamayo 
(Psittacus macao), and many species of humming-birds, 
frequent the river-banks ; the palomas, or doves, and the 
social and noisy yellow-tails are on the trees, especially 
the qualm (Cecroj^ia sp.) ; the white cranes and the great 
pelicans frequent the shoals; the johncrows {Cathartes 
aurea) congregate on the trees about the towns and serve 
as scavengers ; and owls, hawks, and eagles are distinct 
elements of the Guatemaltecan avifauna. 

Not less brilliant than the birds are the lepidoptera. 
The superb blue butterfly {Morplio sp.) flits among the- 
trees with its wings spreading nine inches ; with this are 
smaller relatives, — black, blue, carmine, and yellow ; some 
with swallow-tails (PapilionidEe), others short and broad. 
Among the beetles are two of immense size, — the Her- 



VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 375 

cules beetle (Dynastes Herculis) and the harlequin {Acro- 
cinus longimanus) ; the former attains a size of five inches 
in length, and the latter infests the rubber-trees. Another 
beetle — one of the Elateridse {Pyro'phoTus nyctopliorus) 
— gives a most brilliant and constant light, quite as 
bright as the cacuyo of the West Indies. All through 
the highlands wasp-nests of large size and curious form 
are seen in the trees ; ants also build mud-nests in the 
trees and on posts. Many chapters might be written of 
the habits of the Central American ants, which are per- 
haps the most abundant of indigenous insects, — the little 
" crazy ant," which runs rapidly in all directions, seem- 
ingly without any object ; the zompopos, or leaf-cutters 
{(Ecodoma), whose trains are seen all through the for- 
ests, bearing above them the great sail-like fragments of 
leaf they have cut to stock their homes ; the comajen 
(white ant), which destroys dead-wood and is intolerant of 
light ; the fire-ant ; and many others. The zompopos are 
very destructive in the vegetable garden, and indeed 
would quickly destroy a cacao, orange, or coffee planta- 
tion if allowed to establish their immense burrow in the 
midst. Some of the burrows are thirty feet in diameter, 
and can only be destroyed by persistent efforts, — fire, 
coal-tar, and carbolic acid being the best agents of de- 
struction.^ The sandflies are almost unendurable along 
the coast at certain seasons, and so are the mosquitoes 
(the genuine Culex mosquito, with striped body and black 
lancet) on the rivers. House-flies are not seen at Living- 
ston ; but all through the country the " botlass " is a pest. 
A bite by this fly leaves a persistent black spot, sur- 
rounded by an inflamed circle. Jiggers, beef-worms, and 

^ See Appendix for account of the habits of the zompopos. 



376 



GUATEMALA. 



coloradias are troublesome about the towns and where 
there is un cleanness. The garrapatos {Ixodes bovis) are 
often found on horses and other animals, and when full 
are as large as a coffee-bean. Man does not escape this 
pest ; but they are so large that they are easily picked 
off, especially if one has a monkey. 

Among the mollusks the conch holds an important plsice 
both as an article of food and as an instrument of noise. 
Three kinds are distinguished, — the queen, king, and 
horse ; the two last being the best for eating, while the 
first is much sought for cameo-cutting. A fine pink pearl 
is found in some of the shells. I consider a conch-soup 
quite equal to oyster-soup ; but it is said (with some rea- 
son) to be a strong aphrodisiac. Madrepores, corals, sea- 
fans, and the varied inhabitants of reefs, are found in 
considerable variety, and are now the subject of collection 
and study by at least two competent observers. Jelly- 
fish (Medusce), Portuguese men-of-war {Physalid), and 
star-fish {Asterias) are abundant, and a naturalist would 
have a good harvest on the cayos and reefs of the Bay of 
Honduras. 




Passiflora Brighami, Watson. 



CHAPTER XII. 

EAETHQUAKES AND YOLCANOES. 

MUCH has been written of the effect npon the charac- 
ter and feelings of a people caused by constant 
dwelling among the more marked phenomena of Nature. 
It is a mistake to suppose that the eye sees all that is im- 
pressed on the retina, that the ear catches more than an 
insignificant share of the innumerable sounds falling cease- 
lessly on the tympanum, or that the mind interprets many 
of the marvels that each instant presents to it. Only the 
educated eye, the practised ear, the cultivated mind, can 
appreciate what the Creator has placed before it in this 
beautiful world whose wonders no human understanding, 
however taught, is capable of wholly comprehending. 
The worldly wisdom of the saying that " familiarity 
breeds contempt " is applicable to the greater portion of 
humanity ; and dwellers among the Alps cease to see, if 
indeed they ever saw, what strikes the dweller on the 
plain with awe as he gazes for the first time at the 
Jungfrau. To a thinking, studying man, familiarity is 
the mother of awe. 

In a region where the molecular forces, those mighty 
slaves of a Divine Will, are working out of doors, so to 
speak ; where from the summit of a volcanic peak one 
can count scores of others ranged on his right hand and 
on his left ; where he can see, if he has opened the 




CENTRAL AMERICAN VOLCANOES. 



378 GUATEMALA. 

door for such vision, the cooling globe wrinkling with 
agCj the force of contraction • liquefying in fervent heat 
the solid materials of the earth's crust and pouring out 
into daylight the molten rock, or puffing out the dust of 
stones ground to powder in the gigantic mill, — his 
heart, his brain, his very being, will be enlarged by the 
reflections that come to him in such moments. Not so 
the Indio who lazily cultivates his milpa on the lower 
slopes of this same volcano. His feet never seek the 
summit, where no maiz can grow. He knows that the 
ground is very fertile where his hut is placed ; he has 
nothing that an earthquake can destroy, and the showers 
of ashes, while injuring his present crop, are a pledge of 
increased fertility in the future ; then from the streams 
of lava he can run, should they come in his way. When 
a more terrible outbreak of the great mass above him 
disturbs his stolidity, he attributes it to some super- 
natural agency, and calls upon his especial saints for 
the protection due their votary. Have not the Central 
Americans baptized their volcanoes, and have not these 
huge Christians since that rite been quiescent and proper 
members of the Church ? 

The people who live in the midst of this region of 
volcanic disturbances have not been elevated by commu- 
nion with this manifestation of the agencies of Nature. 
Their religion is not autochthonic ; their choicest tradi- 
tions come from the non-volcanic lands to the eastward, 
and are not tinged with the lurid glow of the earth-fires. 
Even their hell is no fiery furnace, and the apostles of 
an Eastern religion introduced to their imagination 
that supposed element of future punishment. Where a 
suggestion of fire-worship appears, it is always called 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 379 

forth by the sun, — that source of hf e and warmth and 
growth. 

And yet, here is a country where volcanoes cluster, 
— their number reaching several hundred, — where hot- 
springs are more common than the cold-springs in most 
countries, and where earthquakes are very frequent and 
destructive. The volcanoes of the Hawaiian Archipelago 
are larger, those of Java more destructive, and the equa- 
torial group of South America is loftier ; but here be- 
tween Popocatepetl and Istaccuahuatl, the giants of the 
plain of Anahuac, and the Costa Rican Turrialba extends 
an unbroken line of mighty cones and gaping craters. 
Somewhere on that line, smoke is ever rising ; and at 
night the mariner along the Pacific coast sees the beacon- 
fires lighted by no mortal hand. 

We must not expect to find in native records any 
careful account, or even notice, of eruptions or earth- 
cjuakes ; if referred to at all, it will be much as in the 
quotation I have already given from the " Popul Yuh," 
where Cabracan is said to be in the habit of shaking 
the mountains. In the three centuries and a half since 
Spain sent her educated sons to this land, with the 
exception of some three hundred earthquakes and half a 
hundred eruptions, we have no better record. While it is 
true that geology has existed as a science only within 
the present century, yet one would suppose that a catas- 
trophe causing the death of hundreds of people and the 
destruction of much property would be entered with some 
minuteness in the annals of the time ; but were it not for 
the masses and church processions to calm the trembling 
earth or appease the angry mountains, the worthy padres 
would perhaps have failed to notice these disturbances of 



380 GUATEMALA. 

Nature in their parochial records. Even the stories 
we have of the early experiences of the Spaniards 
in matters of vulcanology are so mingled with devils 
and unholy work that they are nearly incredible ; and 
the stone volumes lying about the mountains, writ- 
ten by the hand of Nature, rather than the human 
chronicles, must be our guide. 

VOLCANOES. 

Stephens has described some of the Central American 
volcanoes from personal visits, but not with the pen 
of a geologist, and in the last years of the French 
Empire able geologists^ redescribed some of the same 
peaks ; but there are still more than a score of lofty 
cones that no geologist has ever ascended, and there are 
many rising from an almost unbroken forest, whose vol- 
canic nature has not yet been fully determined. Even 
■in the present age of physical research Central America 
has been sadly neglected ; and we may express a hope 
that some young man is even now training his thews and 
sinews, and hardening his constitution by virtuous absti- 
nence and careful exercise, as well as training his mind 
to interpret and his eye to see the rich harvest that here 
awaits the proper explorer. No feeble student need at- 
tempt the task. Death surely waits for him in the 
jungle, on the precipices, in the treacherous craters, even 
in the posada to which he brings his exhausted frame, 
should he be so foolhardy as to ascend a volcano in this 
tropical climate. 

^ DoUfus et Montserrat, Voyage geologique dans les republiques de 
Guatemala et Salvador. Paris, 1868. 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 381 

This is not the place to enter into a scientific descrip- 
tion of even the little that is known of the volcanic 
phenomena of Central America ; but perhaps my readers 
will pardon me if I make some few quotations from what 
Mr. Darwin once wrote me he considered the poetry of 
geology. I may at the same time show faintly what a 
tempting field there is for the truly scientific explorer.^ 
What I have said already will be my excuse for inaccu- 
racies, and I can only claim to have consulted the best 
authorities when my personal observation fails, and they 
must bear the blame of any misstatements. I give first 
a list of the principal volcanoes, then of their best-known 
eruptions, and finally an enumeration of the earthquakes. 
Hot and mineral springs are very frequent all over the 
country ; but as' their chemical constituents and medi- 
cinal properties have not been determined, and their 
physical peculiarities are not noteworthy, we may pass 
them by in this brief survey with the remark that the 
Indios do not seem to have made much use of their medi- 
cinal virtues, and turn at once to a catalogue of the vol- 
canoes. From what I have myself seen of the extinct 
craters in the republic of Guatemala, I am convinced that 
I have collected in this list barely a tithe of the distinct 
volcanic vents. The Soconuscan volcano Istak has never 
been described, and some have doubted its existence ; 
of the others whose names are in the list very few 
have been examined by geologists. Beginning at the 
extreme northwestern end of the chain in Central 
America, we find it extends south fifty-five degrees 
east ; and while the volcanoes are generally in line, 

'^ Not for the pseudo-geologists who see glacial action on every bed of 
recent lava or in every railroad embankment. 



382 GUATEMALA. 

there are several subsidiary lines at right angles to the 
general trend. 

IN GUATEMALA. 

ISfame. Present State. Last Eruption. Height. 

Tacana Quiescent 1855 

Tajumulco^ Extinct 18,317(?) 

Santa Maria (Exancul) . . " 11,415 

Cerro Quemado .... Quiescent 1785 10,205 

Zunil Extinct 

Santa Clara " 8,554 

SanPedi'o " ' 8,125 

Atitlan Active 1852 9,870 

Acatenango . . . . . Quiescent 13,563 

Fuego . Active 1880 12,075 

Agua Extinct 12,337 

Pacaya (Pecul) .... Quiescent 1775 8,390 

Cerro Redondo .... Extinct 3,550 

Tecuamburro ..... " 

Moyuta " 

Chingo ...... " " 6,500 

Amayo " 

Mita " 5,000 

Suchitan, or Santa Catarina . " 1469 (?) 

Monte Rico " 

Ipala " 5,460 

IN SAN SALVADOR. 

Apaneca Extinct 5,826 

Santa Ana . . . . . Active 6,000 

Izalco " tsonstant 6,000 

San Salvador 2 .... " ■ 6,182 

Cojutepeque, or Ilopango . . " 3,400 

San Vincente Quiescent 1643 7,600 

Tecapa Extinct 

Usulutan ...... " 

Chinameca Quiescent 5,000 

San Miguel Active 1844 6,244 

Conchagua ..... Quiescent 3,915 

1 Vandesehuchto. ^ Rockstroh. 



EARTHQUAKES AXD VOLCANOES. 



383 



Name. 

Zacate Grande 
Tigre . 

Congrehoy Peak 
Bonito 
Bay Islands 



IN HONDURAS. 

Present State. 

Extinct 



Quiescent 

Extinct 



Last Eruption. Height. 

2,000 
2,632 
8,040 

1,000 



IN NICARAGUA. 

Coseguina Quiescent 1835 3,600 

Chonco " 

El Viejo (Belcher, 1838) . . " ~ 5,562 

Santa Clara , . . . " 4,700 

Telica . Active 1850 3,800 

Orota . . . . ' . . . Quiescent 

Las Pilas ■ " ^ 4,000 

Axusco, or Asososco . . . Extinct 4,690 

Momotombo . . . . . Active 1852 7,000 

Momotombito Extinct 

Guanapepe . ' . . . . " 

Nindii'i Quiescent 

Masaya ...... Active 1858 3,000 

Mombacho Extinct 5,250 

Zapeton, or Zapatera ... " 

Ometepec ...... Active 1883 5,050 

Madeira Quiescent 5,000 



IN COSTA RICA. 

Orosi Quiescent 

Rincon de la Vieja . ... " 

Mtravalles . . . . . Extinct 

Tenorio " 

Los Votos, or Poas . . . " 

Barba " 

Irazu, or Cartago .... Active 

Turrialba ...... Extinct 

Chiripo " 



1726 



8,650 

5,500 

10,500 

11,450 
12,533 




384 GUATEMALA. 

Besides the volcanoes contained in the preceding list 
there are in Columbia three volcanic peaks : — 

Name. Present State. Height. 

Pico Blanco Extinct 11,740 

Rovalo (?) 7,021 

Chiriqui (?) 11,265 

The volcanoes on the Atlantic coast have been little 
noticed. Congrehoy Peak has the sharpest cone I have 

ever seen, almost equal- 
ling the impossible cones 
in Humboldt's drawings 
of the Cordilleras : and 

Congrehoy Peak. 

I regret that the only 
photograph I was able to make of the mountain-top 
rising above the low-lying clouds was defective. Trust- 
ing too securely to my camera, I did not measure the 
angle, although the sketch I made just before is quite 
as the mountain looks. The sharpness is perhaps the 
result of an eruption said to have taken place a few years 
asco, when the crater fell in and ashes were carried as 
far as Belize, — a hundred and fifty miles. Belonging 
to the same system as Congrehoy and Bonito are the 
Bay Islands. Of these, Utila shows streams of vesic- 
ular basaltic lava, and fragments of a more compact, 
older basalt ; but I have found neither on this island 
nor on Roatan any signs of a crater. The formation 
is, however, distinctly volcanic, and apparently of a 
period anterior to the eruptions which built the Island 
of Oahu in the Hawaiian Group, — I judge by the 
amount of decomposition and degradation, the lavas 
in both cases being similar in composition and physical 
character. 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 385 

I have mentioned the deposits of volcanic sand found 
on the north shore of the Lago de Izabal, in a region 
surrounded by what are thought to be calcareous moun- 
tains ; and I may add that several peaks in the Cocks- 
comb Range of British Honduras appear from a distance 
of perhaps forty miles to be volcanic cones. 

Passing over the traditional outbreaks of the Central 
American volcanoes before the Conquest, the earliest 
recorded eruption was that of Masaya in 1522 ; and the 
Spanish chroniclers tell a very amusing story of the at- 
tempt of the Dominican friar Blase and his companions 
to draw up the molten gold (lava) in an iron bucket from 
El Iniierno de Masaya, or Hell of Masaya. The bucket, 
as well as the chain which held it, melted on approaching 
the lava ; and the pious Churchmen, instead of being en- 
riched by the precious metal, were poorer by the cost of 
the expedition. According to the same authority, the 
Indios at certain seasons cast living maids into the crater 
to appease the fire, that it might not break forth and 
injure their crops. This would indicate a continued state 
of activity, without an outbreak from the crater, much as 
in the Halemaumau of the volcano Kilauea. It is curi- 
ous that in Yucatan the Mayas sacrificed maidens to 
water by casting them into the sacred well or Cenote of 
Chichen Itza ; ^ and a similar sacrifice has been made at 
Ilopango in modern times. In 1772 the next real erup- 
tion took place, and in 1858 another slight one. The 
cone is directly over the Lake of Masaya, — the only 
source of water in that dry land ; and its ejections are 
encroaching upon the area of the lake. But I will put 
the eruptions in a tabular form for convenience : — 

1 Brasseur de Bourbourg, ii. 44. 
25 



386 GUATEMALA. 

LIST OF THE EECOKDED ERUPTIONS IN CENTRAL 

AMERICA. 

Year. Volcano. 

1522 Masaya 

1526 Fuego 

1565 o . . Pacaya 

1581 Fuego 

1582 

1585 and 1586 " 

1614 , " 

1623 " 

1643 San Vincente 

1651 Pacaya 

1664 . = " 

1668 " 

1670 (?) in Nicaragua 

1671 Pacaya 

1677 " 

1686 Fuego 

1699 .- " 

1705 " 

1706 " 

1707 ". 

1710 " two eruptions 

1717 " 

1723 Irazu 

1726 " 

1732 Fuego 

1737 ""^ 

1764 Momotombo 

1770 . Izalco (formation of) 

1772 Masaya 

1775 . (?) in Nicaragua 

1775 Pacaya 

1785 Cerro Quemado 

1798 Izalco 

1799 Fuego 

1803 Izalco 

1821 (?) in Nicaragua 

1829 Fuego 

1835 Coseguina 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCAit^OES. 387 

Year. Volcano. 

1844 San Miguel 

1847 (?) ill Nicaragua 

1850 Telica 

1852 Momotombo 

1855 Tacana 

1855 Fuego 

1856 " 

1857 " 

1858 Masaya 

1869 Izalco 

1870 . " 

1880 Ilopango (Lago de) 

1880 Fuego 

1883 Omotepec 

EARTHQUAKES. 

I do not propose to weary my readers with a list of 
the three hundred earthquakes that have been thought 
severe enough to be recorded ; but a picture of Central 
America would be unrecognizable without some color of 
the natural disturbances that are inseparably connected 
in the popular mind with this part of the continent. 

In 1541 the capital of the kingdom of Guatemala, now 
Ciudad Vieja, was a young and flourishing city. Founded 
in July, 1524, between the mountains Agua and Fuego, 
in the place called Almolonga (" water-fountain "), with 
the proud title of " City of Saint James of the Knights of 
Guatemala," it had grown to a respectable size, in spite of 
numerous misfortunes, to which Juarros devotes an entire' 
chapter of his " Compendio." An earthquake in 1526, so 
severe, says Bernal Diaz del Castillo, that men could not 
stand, seems to have frightened the population less than 
did an enormous lion (puma ?) which descended the forest- 
clad slopes of Agua in 1532 and made great havoc, until a 
reward of twenty-five gold dollars and a hundred fanegas 



388 GUATEMALA. 

of wheat induced a peasant to kill the monster. Politics 
had, as is usually the case, made more disturbance than 
the forces of Nature. The Conquistador Alvarado was 
recently dead, his widow, Dona Beatriz de la Cueva, had 
claimed the government, and the obsequies of the dead 
and the ceremonials of the new ruler were agitating the 
city when the sudden and terrible destruction of both 
ruler and her capital came. Accounts of the catastrophe 
vary, as is usual with all history, — which some one has 
wisely called " probabilities and possibilities extracted 
from lies ; " but from nine extant descriptions and an 
examination of the physical marks which three centuries 
have not wholly effaced, I believe the following to be a 
fair story of the event : — 

September is always a rainy month in Guatemala, and 
on Thursday, the 8th, a storm began which was violent 
even for that place and season. Rain fell in torrents, 
and continued to fall all that day and Friday and Satur- 
day. Two hours after dark on the last day a severe 
earthquake shock was felt, and from Hunapu, since 
called the Volcan de Agua, came an avalanche of water, 
carrying with it immense rocks and entire forests. The ter- 
ror of the earthquake and the roar of the unseen torrent 
wrought the excitement of the inhabitants to the utmost. 
Soon the deluge reached the city ; the streets were filled to 
overflowing, and the houses were beaten by the waves 
and battered by the great trees brought by the torrent. 
Among the houses most exposed was that of Dona Beatriz, 
the widow of the Adelantado. She was preparing for 
bed ; but startled by the earthquake and the terrible noise, 
endeavored to obtain safety in a small chapel near by, 
and while clinging to the crucifix was killed by the fall 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 389 

of the chapel wall. Her house was uninjured. All 
through the city the loss of life was very great ; six hun- 
dred Spaniards perished, and the loss of Indios and Negroes 
was far greater. In the morning the remains of the city 
hardly appeared above the trees, rocks, and mud of the 
avalanche. It was then that the disheartened survivors 
decided to remove a league eastward, to the present 
Antigua. 

The earthquake did not destroy the city, still less 
was there an eruption of water from the volcano ; but 
the crater of the long-extinct cone had been filled with 
the rains, and the tremor shattered the loose dam of the 
crater-lip and let the great body of water down the steep 
side of the mountain. There was water in the crater 
long before, and the crater to-day shows marks of the 
broken wall and emptied lake. The destruction of the 
city was considered a judgment of Heaven upon Dona 
Beatriz for certain impious remarks made in her bereave- 
ment, and it was with difficulty that her family were 
able to bury her remains in consecrated ground. 

On May 23, 1575, San Salvador (Cuscatlan) was de- 
stroyed by an earthquake which also greatly damaged 
Antigua. Afterwards the latter city had an experience 
that would have discouraged the people of any Northern 
town, for in 1576 and 1577 it was badly shaken, and on 
Dec. 23, 1586, destroyed. Then it was rebuilt enough to 
be again shattered on Feb. 18, 1651, and again on Feb. 12, 
1689, and Sept. 29, 1717. The day after this last shock 
Antigua was destroyed completely ; but for all that, on 
March 4, 1751, the chronicler writes " many ruins," and 
then the centre of disturbance goes southward for a 
while. In April, 1765, several towns were destroyed in 



390 GUATEMALA. 

San Salvador, and the next month many in the Depart- 
ment of Chiquimula in Guatemala ; while during the fol- 
lowing October the " earthquake of San Rafael " shook 
many Guatemaltecan towns to pieces. 

On July 29, 1773, Antigua was again destroyed, — if 
such a thing was possible ; and although her inhabitants 
yielded to the momentary discouragement and permitted 
the Government to be removed to the Valley of the Hermit- 
age, they have never allowed the ruins to become desolate, 
and to-day the traveller gazes in astonishment at the 
shattered walls of nearly eighty churches still the orna- 
ment of the town. The Antigua that once sheltered 
eighty thousand inhabitants, beautiful in its situation and 
distinguished by its architectural display, is still attrac- 
tive in its ruins ; its forty thousand inhabitants go in and 
out under the shadow of the volcano and await the next 
destruction, which may come to-morrow or years hence : 
the lesson that is past is all forgotten. I confess my- 
self that the ruined churches, so fresh after the sun and 
rains of a century have penetrated their shattered walls, 
inspired no apprehension of danger ; they were objects of 
great interest rather than warning ; and it was no strange 
thing that those born in that charming place should cling 
to it still. 

In 1774 nearly all the towns on the Balsam Coast of 
San Salvador were ruined. I hope my readers understand 
the delicate gradation in the terms used in speaking of 
the misfortunes of earthquake countries. A place is 
" shaken," then " shattered, ' then " ruined," and finally 
" destroyed " by the visit of a temblor ; and it is a very 
nice matter to decide exactly where one term is appropri- 
ate and another not. 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 391 

In February, 1798, San Salvador was badly shaken 
and after a rather long rest, broken by " no great shakes," 
two very destructive earthquakes were felt in March and 
October, 1839. On Sept. 2, 1841, Cartago, in Costa Rica, 
was destroyed ; in June, 1847, the Balsam Coast was 
greatly ruined ; on May 16, 1852, the disturbances occurred 
northward, in the vicinity of Quezaltenango ; on April 16, 
1854, San Salvador was destroyed, — not, however, for 
the last time. On Nov. 6, 1857, Cojutepeque was badly 
shaken, and the same misfortune came upon La Union 
Aug. 25, 1859. The following December houses were 
shattered in Escuintla and Amatitlan ; Dec. 19, 1862, 
Antigua, Amatitlan, Escuintla, Tecpan Guatemala, and 
the neighboring towns were severely shaken ; June 12, 
1870, Chiquimulilla was destroyed, and much damage 
done in Cuajinicuilapa ; a month later a severe earthquake 
was felt in the Departments of Santa Rosa and Jutiapa ; 
March 4, 1873, San Salvador and the neighboring towns 
were destroyed, — a process they must have become quite 
accustomed to by this time, — and eighteen months later 
it was the turn of Patzicia to be destroyed, while Chimal- 
tenango, Antigua and the vicinity were only ruined. The 
year 1878 was marked by the destruction of several towns 
in Usulutan, San Salvador, and on Dec. 27 and 30, 1879, 
most of the small towns in the neighborhood of the Lago 
de Ilopango were overturned. 

Hardly a month passes without some slight tremor in 
western Guatemala. In recent years so much more 
attention has been paid to seismology, or the observation 
and record of the time, duration, and direction of earth- 
quake shocks, that the longer lists seem to indicate the 
increase of slight tremors ; but this is not probable, and 



392 GUATEMALA. 

certainly the volcanic eruptions have diminished in force 
and frequency. Fuego, the most important, lays claim to 
twenty-one of the fifty recorded eruptions of the Central 
American volcanoes 5 but during the present century it 
has cast out merely sand, and no lava streams. 

I have never had the experience of a very severe earth- 
quake, although I have had the pictures swing on the 
walls and the plastering crack and fall ; therefore I must 
borrow the description of an earthquake, that the list just 
given may seem more real. The following account is 
considered very truthful : — 

" The night of the 16th of April, 1854, will ever be 
one of sad and bitter memory for the people of Salvador. 
On that unfortunate night our happy and beautiful capital 
was made a heap of ruins. Movements of the earth were 
felt on Holy Thursday, preceded by sounds like the rolling 
of heavy artillery over pavements and like distant thunder. 
The people were a little alarmed in consequence of this 
phenomenon, but it did not prevent them from meeting 
in the churches to celebrate the solemnities of the day. 
On Saturday all was quiet, and confidence was restored. 
The people of the neighborhood assembled as usual to 
celebrate the Passover. The night of Saturday was 
tranquil, as was also the whole of Sunday. The heat, 
it is true, was considerable, but the atmosphere was calm 
and serene. For the first three hours of the evening 
nothing unusual occurred ; but at half -past nine a severe 
shock of an earthquake, occurring without the preliminary 
noises, alarmed the whole city. Many families left their 
houses and made encampments in the public squares, 
while others prepared to pass the night in their respective 
court vards. 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 393 

" Finally, at ten minutes to eleven, without premonition 
of any kind, the earth began to heave and tremble with 
such fearful force that in ten seconds the entire city was 
prostrated. The crashing of houses and churches stunned 
the ears of the terrified inhabitants, while a cloud of dust 
from the falling ruins enveloped them in a pall of im- 
penetrable darkness. Not a drop of water could be got 
to relieve the half-choking and suffocating, for the wells 
and fountains were filled up or made dry. The clock- 
tower of the cathedral carried a great part of tliat edifice 
with it in its fall. The towers of the church of San 
Francisco crushed the episcopal oratory and part of the 
palace. The church of Santo Domingo was buried be- 
neath its towers, and the college of the Assumption was 
entirely ruined. The new and beautiful edifice of the 
university was demolished, the church of the Merced 
separated in the^ centre, and its walls fell outward to the 
ground. Of the private houses a few were left standing, 
but all were rendered uninhabitable. It is worthy of 
remark that the walls left standing are old ones ; all 
those of modern construction have fallen. The public 
edifices of the Government and city shared the common 
destruction. 

" The devastation was effected, as we have said, in the 
first ten seconds ; for although the succeeding shocks 
were tremendous, and accompanied by fearful rumblings 
beneath our feet, they had comparatively trifling results 
for the reason that the first had left but little for their 
ravages. Solemn and terrible was the picture presented 
on the dark funereal night of a whole people clustering 
in the plazas and on their knees crying with loud voices 
to Heaven for mercy, or in agonizing accents calling for 



394 GUATEMALA. 

their children and friends whom they beheved to be 
buried beneath the ruins. A heaven opaque and ominous ; 
a movement of the earth rapid and unequal, causing a 
terror indescribable ; an intense sulphurous odor J&lling 
the atmosphere, and indicating an approaching eruption 
of the volcano ; streets filled with ruins, or overhung by 
threatening walls; a suffocating cloud of dust almost 
rendering respiration impossible, — such was the spectacle 
presented by the unhappy city on that memorable and 
awful night. 

" A hundred boys were shut up in the college, many in- 
valids crowded the hospitals, and the barracks were full 
of soldiers. The sense of the catastrophe which must have 
befallen them gave poignancy to the first moment of reflec- 
tion after the earthquake was over. It was believed that 
at least a fourth part of the inhabitants had been buried 
beneath the ruins. The members of the Government, 
however, hastened to ascertain, so far as practicable, the 
extent of the catastrophe, and to quiet the public mind. 
It was found that the loss of life was much less than was 
supposed ; and it now appears probable that the number 
of killed will not exceed one hundred, and of wounded, 
fifty. Fortunately the earthquake has not been followed 
by rains, which gives an opportunity to disinter the public 
archives, as also many of the valuables contained in the 
dwellings of the citizens. The movements of the earth 
still continue, with strong shocks ; and the people, fearing 
a general swallowing up of the site of the city, or that it 
may be buried under some sudden eruption of the volcano, 
are hastening away." In 1859 the city was again in order, 
as the seat of government, after an ineffectual attempt to 
remove it to the plain of Santa Tecla, ten miles distant. 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 395 

The birth of the volcano of Izalco occurred in 1770. It 
is, indeed, only a lateral opening of the volcano of Santa 
Ana, which, like ^tna, is a mother of mountains. San 
Marcellino, Naranjo,Tamasique, Aguila, San Juan, Launita, 
and Apaneca all seem to be her offspring. Near the base 
of the main volcano was, previous to 1770, a large cattle 
rancho. At the close of 1769 the people on this estate 
were alarmed by subterranean noises and earthquake 
shocks, which continued to increase in loudness and 
severity until February 23, when the earth opened 
about half a mile from the houses on the hacienda, 
emitting fire, smoke, and lava. The house-people fled 
from so terrible a neighbor; but the vaqueros, or cow- 
boys, who came daily to see the new monster, declared 
it grew worse and worse, throwing out more smoke and 
flame daily, and that while the flow of lava sometimes 
stopped for a while, vast quantities of sand and stones were 
thrown out instead. For more than a century this action 
has gone on, and the ejecta have formed a cone more than 
six thousand feet high, or higher than Vesuvius. At in- 
tervals of from ten to twenty minutes, loud explosions oc- 
cur, with dense smoke and a puff of cinders and stones. 
By night the view from Sonsonate is very attractive, as the 
cloud of smoke is illuminated by the molten mass within, 
and the red-hot stones shoot through this darker mass and 
seem to ignite vapors, which flash like lightning. As these 
stones roll down the steep sides of the cone, they leave a 
faint track some distance (optical, probably), and sometimes 
the caldron boils over, sending rills of molten lava down 
the cone. Well may the sailors call this " El faro de 
Salvador," — the lighthouse of Salvador. Like Stromboli, 
it is always active ; and while most volcanoes are noted for 



396 GUATEMALA. 

the irregularity of their eruptions, Izalco is exceedingly 
regular, though sometimes acting with unusual violence 
(1798, 1869, 1870). The volcano of Tanna, in the western 
Pacific, exhibits this same pulsating character. 

San Miguel is the largest active volcano in San Salvador, 
rising from the plain to a height of perhaps sixty-five hun- 
dred feet. Like most of the Central American volcanoes, 
its mass is a very regular cone, and its form, size, and 
beautiful colors render it one of the grandest objects of its 
class. From the deep green of the forest which surrounds 
its base, the color fades to the light green of the upland 
grass, then to the deep red of the scoriae, and the top is 
grayish-white. Above all, the ever-changing cloud of 
smoke floats lazily away. Of all the accounts of ascents 
of Central American volcanoes, I have selected the account 
published many years ago by Don Carlos Gutierrez of his 
ascent of San Miguel, because it seems to convey a fair 
idea of the simplest form of mountain-climbing and of the 
appearance of an active cone. He says : — 

" "We started from the city of San Miguel on the after- 
noon of the 7th of December, 1848, directing our course 
towards the western border of the plain where rises the 
dark bulk of the volcano. At eleven o'clock at night we 
reached the foot of the mountain, distant four leagues from 
the town. Although the moon shone with extraordinary 
brilliancy and the night was one of serenest beauty, yet 
we considered it safer to take shelter in an Indian hut for 
the remainder of the night than trust ourselves among the- 
fissures of the mountain in the treacherous moonlight. 
At four in the morning, with the earliest dawn of day, we 
commenced our ascent on horseback. We however soon 
found our course so much impeded by masses of lava, over 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES, 397 

which it was difficult to force the animals, that we were 
compelled to dismount and pursue our journey on foot. 
About half way up the mountain the dikes of lava became 
less frequent, and the ground more firm and open, and, 
although quite precipitous, yet not difficult of ascent. 
This open belt, however, does not extend to the summit, 
and long before we reached it we were again driven upon 
the beds of sharp, rough, and unsteady lava. 

" Our course now lay through a deep channel formed 
between two vast currents of lava, composed of enormous 
crags, which in 1844 had flowed out from fissures in the 
side of the volcano. We had not proceeded far between 
these walls of rock when we found the scorise beneath 
our feet so yielding and unsteady that we could scarcely 
retain our foothold. Frequently we slid back three or four 
yards, thus losing in a moment the advance which it had 
cost us great labor to accomplish. Nevertheless, after many 
efforts and through much exertion, and after having suf- 
fered several severe falls, we succeeded in reaching the 
throat of the mountain. Here the lava was solid and the 
scoriaB firm ; and though the slope was very steep and dan- 
gerous, yet we found it easier to proceed here than over 
the soft and yielding ashes below. 

" About mid-day we reached the summit proper of the 
mountain and stood on the . edge of the great crater, 
which is surrounded by a wall of immense rocks, irregu- 
lar in height, and having a circuit of a mile and a half. 
The area within these strange bulwarks is level ; but on 
descending, we found with alarm that it was traversed 
in every direction by profound fissures, varying from one 
foot to five yards in width, from which escaped dense 
clouds of sulphurous smoke. About in the centre of this 



398 GUATEMALA. 

area was the yawning, active crater, or mouth of the 
crater, or mouth of the volcano. Our guide peremptorily 
refused to advance farther, insisting that we were liable 
at any moment to sink into some one of the numerous 
fissures which yawned beneath the superficial crust. He 
added further that in the neighborhood of the crater the 
gases were so pungent and the sulphurous odor so over- 
whelming that we could not escape suffocation. 

" The alarm with which our guide endeavored to inspire 
us did not, however, get the better of our curiosity, and 
we determined to reach the crater. Providing ourselves 
with long staves with which to test the nature of the 
ground, we advanced carefully and slowly. At every step 
the clouds of smoke became more dense, and the odor of 
the gases escaping from the multitudinous fissures more 
overpowering. Our efforts, however, were amply repaid 
by the sight which met our eyes when we finally reached 
the brink of the crater. Nothing could be grander or 
more magnificent. 

" A few months before, I had seen the volcano of Izal- 
co, with its crown of living fire and its flashing tongues 
of flame, throwing out floods of incandescent lava ; 
but sublime as was the spectacle, it paled and grew 
tame in comparison with that before us. The crater, as 
before observed, is in the centre of the level area which I 
have described. It is of irregular width, in some places 
only ten or twelve yards broad ; in others, fifty or sixty, 
dividing the greater crater from side to side. The depth 
of this orifice, or cleft, is so great that the eye cannot 
fathom it. One sees only a vast gulf of molten lava, 
over which plays a pale and sulphurous flame, reflected 
again and again from burned and blistered rocks, fan- 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 399 

tastic in shape and capricious in position, which form the 
walls of the orifice. Thick whorls of smoke drifted up 
from all sides, so that at times I was unable to distin- 
guish my companion, distant only a few yards. An inde- 
scribable magnetic influence or fascination seemed to 
rivet our eyes on the molten floods surging below us, and 
which, from their roar and vibrations, seemed to threaten 
momentarily to rise and overwhelm us, as if the volcano 
were on the verge of eruption. 

" Our contemplations of this fearful orifice were there- 
fore brief, the smoke and odor overpowered us ; and 
in a few moments we were forced to abandon our posi- 




Volcan de Coseguina, from the Sea. 

tions and seek a breath of pure air at a distance. We 
returned rapidly to the place where we had left our guide ; 
and casting a farewell glance over the strange area before 
us, commenced our descent, reaching San Miguel at six 
o'clock in the evening, weary and exhausted." 

Of the eruptions of the Central American volcanoes 
none in the historical period have surpassed that of Cose- 
guina in 1835. This mountain forms the eastern gate- 
ward of the Gulf of Fonseca, Conchagua rising on the 
other side of the rather narrow entrance. Not remarka- 
bly high (3,600 feet), it rises directly from the sea, and 
by its irregular outline, scarred slopes, and desolate 



400 GUATEMALA. 

appearance conveys the impression of a greater than its 
real mass. On the 20th of January, 1835, the disturb- 
ance began with very loud explosions, heard for a hundred 
leagues. Above the mountain rose an inky cloud which 
spread outwards precisely as Pliny describes the terril^le 
cloud that rose above Vesuvius in 79, spreading like an 
Italian pine. From this column of heated vapor and 
sand darted lightning-flashes, produced either by the 
friction of the immense quantity of rough mineral parti- 
cles, or by the sudden projection of hot gases and 
minerals into the much cooler atmosphere. As the cloud 
spread, the light of the sun was obscured, everything 
looked sickly in the yellow light, and the falling sand 
irritated both eyes and lungs. For two days the explo- 
sions grew more frequent and louder, while the eruption 
of sand increased ; and on the third day the terrible noises 
were loudest in an almost absolute darkness. The rain of 
sand continued until a deposit of several feet had formed 
for many leagues around the crater. At Leon, in Nicara- 
gua, more than a hundred miles away, the sand was 
several inches deep, and it fell in Vera Cruz, Jamaica, 
Santa Fe de Bogota, and over an area nearly two thou- 
sand miles in diameter. At Belize the noise of the ex- 
plosions was so loud that the commandant mustered his 
troops and manned the forts, thinking there was a naval 
action off the anchorage. For eight hundred miles these 
noises were heard, and the vibrations near the volcano 
must have been indeed terrible. We can credit the ac- 
counts of the terror of the wild things of Nature as well 
as of human beings. For thirty leagues around, the as- 
tounded people believed that the Last Judgment had 
come, and in the darkness, thick with the falling ashes, 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 401 

groped hither and thither, bearing crosses and uttering 
prayers inaudible to themselves in the crash of elements. 
At the end of forty-three hours the earthquakes and ex- 
plosions ceased, and with a strong wind the ashes were 
gradually blown away from the atmosphere. The return- 
ing light of day showed a gloomy outlook. Ashes cov- 
ered the country on every side. On Coseguina a crater 
had opened a mile in diameter, and vast streams of lava 
had flowed into the gulf on one side, and into the ocean 
on the other. While the verdure was gone from the land, 
pumice covered the sea for a hundred and fifty miles. 

Terrible as was this outbreak, the explosive violence 
was not so great as of the eruption from some unknown 
vent whose deposits are about Quiche in Guatemala, in 
the valley of the Chixoy, and elsewhere ; and Pacaya has 
in some prehistoric time thrown out sand and pumice in 
greater quantity than did Coseguina, as we see by the 
deposits about the Lago de Amatitlan. 

With the mention of the Lago de Amatitlan it occurs 
to me that the so-called volcanic lakes of Central America 
deserve a short notice. I would not claim that there are 
not here genuine pit-craters filled with water and called 
lag OS or lagunas. On the summit of many of the extinct 
volcanoes are craters filled with water, as Ipala and 
others, and as Agua was before the destruction of the 
crater-lip in 1541 ; while in San Salvador and Nicaragua 
are many lakes, usually of small extent, but sometimes 
so large as to mislead the casual observer as to their ori- 
gin, though of undoubtedly volcanic nature. Of this last 
class is the Lago de Masaya, from whose deep pool the 
people of the neighboring village obtain all their water. 
Coatepeque is another volcanic lake, whose walls are so 

26 



402 GUATEMALA. 

steep that they can be descended only at certain points by 
means of ladders and steps cut in the lava rock. Finally 
there are many pits, sometimes no more than a hundred 
feet in diameter, but of very great depth, and filled some- 
times with fresh water, but more commonly with saline 
waters so strongly impregnated as to be undrinkable. 
-The great lakes of Amatitlan and Atitlan are not cer- 
tainly volcanic, although their shores are dotted with 
hot-springs and guarded by volcanoes, — they are not, 
that is, actual craters ; but the former seems to be the 
result of a subsidence caused perhaps by the removal 
of material from lower layers by eruptions of Pacaya, 
and it is of no considerable depth, while good authority 
has considered the Lago de Atitlan the result of damming 
up a valley and streams by the masses of the volcanic 
group of the same name. A glance at the map of this lake 
(p. 154) as given by the French geologists whose opinion 
is quoted, will show that the volcanoes occupy a position 
not far from the geometrical centre of the Lago, or where 
they should be if the lake was an ancient crater. Com- 
pare with this, if you will, the plan of an undoubted 
volcanic lake, that of Ilopango in San Salvador. This 
body of water is not only the seat of volcanic eruptions, 
as is also the Great Lake of Nicaragua, but probably fills 
a depression that has been the result of the coalescence 
of several points of eruption. I have before me the 
interesting report to the Guatemaltecan Government by 
my friend Edwin Rockstroh of his observations made on 
the eruption of one of these craters in 1880. The lake is 
9,200 metres wide from east to west, and 7,300 metres 
from north to south, with an area of 54.3 kilometres. 
Completely surrounded by precipitous mountains, inter- 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 



403 



rupted only on the southeast by the narrow gorge 
through which the waters of the lake are discharged, 
it receives no important affluents from the surface ; and 
as its emissary is of much greater volume at all seasons 
than these insignificant brooks, it is probably fed by sub- 
terranean springs, — indeed one of these, near the south 




ii"*-i-'jf 



Lago de llopango, 1880. 



shore, enters with such force as to cause a ripple on the 
surface of the lake. Soundings indicate a cup-like bottom 
with an extreme depth of less than seven hundred feet 
(209.26 metres). The level of the lake has often changed, 
and in 1880 the surface-level fell more than thirty-four 
feet, leaving exposed stumps of trees encrusted with cal- 
careous deposits. It was before the last eruption well 
stocked with fish of the varieties called by the people 
who lived near by mojarra, hurrito (both species of the 



404 GUATEMALA. 

genus Hews), pepesca, and cliimbolo. At times an erup- 
tion of sulphurous gases partly asphyxiated the fish, 
driving them to the shores, where they fell a prey to 
the fishermen. What the fishermen did on occasion of 
greater disturbances is told in the following extract from 
a Guatemaltecan journal ; ^ the author, Don Camillo Gal- 
; van, formerly Visitador-General, writes as follows : — 

" The people of the pueblos around the lake, Cojute- 
peque, Texacuangos, and Tepezontes, say that when the 
earthquakes came from the lake, which they knew by the 
disappearance of fish, it was a sign that the monster lord 
of those regions who dwelt in the depths of the lake was 
eating the fish, and probably would consume them all 
shortly, unless f|)rovided with a more delicate and juicy 
diet worthy of his power and voracity ; for they say that 
the monster only eats fish as men eat fruit, to refresh and 
allay hunger. The natives, deeply afflicted by the fish 
famine, the failure of an article of commerce and their 
ordinary diet, collected at the command of their chiefs. 
Then the sorcerers {los hrujos) commanded the people to 
throw flowers and fruits into the lake : if the trem- 
blings continued, they were to cast in animals, preferring 
conies {Lejms Douglassii), taltusas {Geomys heterodus), 
then armadillos (Dasyjnis), and mapachines [Procyon 
eancrivorus). These animals must be caught alive and 
cast living into the water, under penalty of no less than 
hanging with the vine zinak. If some days passed, and 
the tremors continued, and the fish did not come out of 
their caves, they (the brujos) took a girl of from six to 
nine years old, decked her with flowers, and at midnight 
the wizards took her to the middle of the lake and cast 

1 La Sociedad Economica, No. 6, March 14, 1880. 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 405 

her in, bound hand and foot and with a stone fast to her 
neck. The next day, if the child appeared upon the sur- 
face and the tremors continued, another victim was cast 
into the lake with the same ceremonies. 

"Even in the years 1861 and 1862, when I visited 
these towns, they told me, though with much reserve, 
that the people of Cojutepeque and Chinameca kept this 
barbarous custom to prevent the failure of the fish." 

Near the end of November, 1879, a series of earth- 
quakes shook the lake (more than six hundred were 
counted), and on Jan. 11, 1880, the waters had risen 
about four feet. On the next day, between half-past 
four and half-past seven in the afternoon, 13,790,000 
cubic metres of water escaped from the outlet of the lake, 
making a stream of greater volume than the Seine at 
Paris or the Rhine at Basle. The little river Jiboa, 
which received this torrent, did great damage to the 
plantations on its banks. 

As is usual, the earthquakes were accompanied by the 
discharge of sulphuretted hydrogen, now in such quan- 
tities as to be very unpleasant at the city of San Salvador. 
On the 9th of January there appeared floating on the sur- 
face numerous flakes of a black foam composed of ferric 
sulphide, which in contact with flame burned with a 
slight explosion. On the 20th, at eleven o'clock in the 
evening, a great disturbance was noticed in the midst of 
the lake, and the next morning a pile of rocks was seen, 
from whose midst arose a column of vapor. For more 
than a month this vapor column was visible, and the 
pile of rocks near the centre of the lake increased, while 
the water was heated and the sulphurous vapors extended 
over all the neighborhood. Beyond this no permanent 



406 GUATEMALA. 

volcano was formed above the level of the lake (1,600 
feet above the sea). 

It is dangerous to form conclusions as to the general 
course of volcanic action anywhere, for science is very 
much in the dark as to the causes of eruptions and earth- 
quakes, as to the condition of the interior of our globe, 
whether fluid or solid, and also as to whether the lavas 
poured out during an eruption have been fluid since the 
earth was formed, or have been suddenly melted either as 
cause or effect of what we call an eruption. In the Central 
American volcanic- region, as was stated at the beginning 
of this chapter, little has been done in the way of scien- 
tific exploration, and the facts recorded, beyond popular 
accounts of some especial disturbance, are so meagre that 
no large space would be required to present them to the 
reader. This is not, however, the place to enter into a 
scientific discussion, and I must content myself with a few 
bare statements. 

In the first place, the volcanoes of the country discharge 
both ashes and lava, the latter being most frequently tra- 
chytic. Basaltic lavas occur, though less frequently than- 
in Mexico and farther northward ; and the columnar struc- 
ture seen so well at Regla in Mexico is very rare in G-uate- 
mala. On the other hand, pumice and obsidian, which are 
classed with the acid or trachytic lavas, are abundant, the 
latter furnishing material for knives, while the former 
has many applications in the arts of the present day. I 
have seen both basalt and basaltic rapilli in eastern Guate- 
mala near the boundary of San Salvador, and basaltic 
sand is common on the southern coast. 

Another feature of the Central American volcanoes is 
their remarkable regularity of form. This is due to the 



EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES. 407 

fact that the emissions consist of ash and lava of slight 
fluidity. In the Hawaiian Islands, where the basaltic lava 
is more fluid than in any other volcanic region, the lava- 
streams often flow for months, and extend fifty or sixty 
miles from the crater, building by successive eruptions a 
cone of great diameter in proportion to their height ; 
Mauna Loa having a diameter of ninety miles at the sea- 
level, with a height of less than fourteen thousand feet 
and a slope of about seven degrees. The eruptions of the 
American volcanoes are mainly of masses of rock which 
are piled regularly about the base, in this way increasing 
the height, and great quantities of sand which fills the in- 
terstices, and finally of lava in a thick, viscid state which 
clings to the slopes of the growing cone and cements to- 
gether the sand and larger fragments. No lava-stream, at 
least of modern times, has been found at any considerable 
distance from its source. 

From the specimens I collected in some of the ravines 
which traverse the older deposits, I saw that in former 
ages the outflow was not only different from that of 
modern times, but of great variety of form in contem- 
poraneous streams, although the chemical composition did 
not vary essentially. 

Earthquakes are mainly due to the injection of intensely 
heated lava into strata of cold rock in the process of form- 
ing dikes. When a volcano pours its lava out of its sum- 
mit-crater, the eruption may be wholly free from earth 
tremors, as is often the case on the Hawaiian Islands; 
and this gives rise to the popular belief that active volca- 
noes are in some way a safety-valve for the subterranean 
forces. When, however, the shrinkage of the earth's crust 
or the explosive force of pent-up vapors cracks the solid 



408 GUATEMALA. 

rock, thus giving passage to the molten mass which must 
be supposed to underlie this volcanic region, the sudden 
contact of two bodies of very different temperatures (per- 
haps two thousand degrees) must cause vibrations entirely 
sufficient to account for the worst earthquake recorded. 
That the supply of molten rock is ample beneath the crust 
of this region, we have proof in the constant activity of 
Izalco, which for more than a century has poured out lava 
with the other ejections. 

This theory of earthquake action is so simple that it 
must commend itself to any one who has observed the 
powerful vibrations excited by placing a cold kettle upon 
a* hot stove, or by admitting with force a stream of hot 
water into a bath-tub partly filled with cold water. It 
may be stated also that lava is a remarkably poor con- 
ductor of heat (I have been able to walk over a crust that 
bent beneath my weight, and again where I left footprints 
in the half-hardened lava), and solid lava might retain 
a temperature of less than two hundi-ed within a few 
feet of a molten mass ranging among the thousands of 
degrees. The secular refrigeration of the subterranean 
molten masses due to the slight conductivity of solid lava 
is well illustrated in the temperature of hot-springs, that 
remains unchanged for centuries. 

Eruptions are usually of an explosive nature in the 
Central American region (as described in the outbreak of 
Coseguina), and the ejected ash is scattered often to a 
great distance to form by its decomposition layers of soil 
especially fitted for the cultivation of coffee, sugar, and the 
vine. Sulphur is not so abundantly deposited as at ^tna. 
Hekla, or even the Mexican volcanoes. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



WHAT an attic-room is to the thrifty housewife, an appen- 
dix is to the maker of a book. Some things that do 
not seem to be in place in the parlor or chamber are yet 
useful, and altogether too good to be thrown away, so they 
are put into the garret to await the expected use. In a book 
there are matters that the writer thinks ought to interest 
some reader, things ,that will be missed if they are not under 
the same roof, — I mean between the covers of the volume in 
hand, — and yet the skill is wanting to incorporate these odd 
pieces (of furniture, if you wish) in the orderly chapters of the 
book. And so I give you here several long notes and some 
longer lists. 

A LIST OF COMMON CABINET WOODS, DYE-WOODS, 
AND TIMBER. 



Almond (Amygdalus comtnujiis). 

Fustic {Madura tinctoria). 

Funera. 

Mahogany (Sioietenia mahogani), 
— of various kinds, as red, cir- 
cular, buttress. 

Mangrove {Bhizophora Mangle) ; 
the wood is dark red, and \ery 
durable. 

Mangrove {B. Candel) ; the wood 
is very heavy and takes a fine 
polish. 

Granadillo, — a very solid dark- 
red wood, much used for tables. 



Ronron. 

Guachapeli, — a dark, vcr}^ hard 
and strong wood, used in boat- 
building. 

Madre cacao {Erythrma) , — soft. 

Alligator wood {Guarea Sioart- 
zii). 

Trompillo. 

Tepemis, — yellow. 

Una de gato {Pithecolohiura un- 
guis-cati). 

Blood-wood {Laplacea haema- 
toxylon) . 

Palo de Cortez. 



412 



APPENDIX. 



Palo de mulatto {Spondias lutea), 

— a most beautiful and durable 

wood, veiy heavy. 
Cola de pava. 
Sangre de perro. 
Cedar {Cedrela odorata). 
Coco- wood {Inga vera) . 
Tataseame. 
Saradillo. 
Chaquiro. 
Seehillo. 
Sare. 
Volador. 

-Brasiletto {Ccesalpinia crista). 
Tatamite. 
Goyava (Psidiwn) ; wood hard 

and compact, though not of 

great size. 
Arnotto (Sixa orellana) variet}', 

with white wood. 
Zorra. 
Marillo. 
Medlar. 

Bambu {Bamhusa). 
Huiliguiste, — light-colored wood. 
Conacaste. 

Balsam-tree {Olusia rosea). 
Calabash-tree, Guaje {Crescentia 

CKJete). 
Tempisque. 
Pie de paloma. 
Nance, — dye-wood. 
Orange (Citrus), — white and close 

grained. 
Chichipate. 
Cuaquiniquil. 
Varillo. 
Sunzapote. 
Copinol. 
Sicamite. 
Chaperno. 



Cedar {Bur sera). 

Taraiagua. 

Locust, Anime {Hymenma courha- 
ril) ; from this tree gum-copal 
is obtained. 

Locust (Byrsonima cinerea). 

Cambron. 

Gum-thorn {Acacia Arabica). 

Iraj'ol, — j-ellow and ochre-colored. 

Cotorron. 

Quiebra-hacha {Sloanea Jamai- 
censis), — black wood. 

Copalchi, — quinine-tree; the bark 
is used, and the wood is also in 
demand. 

Mammee {Lucuma mam.mosa) ; 
the wood is very hard and 
heavy, but splits easily. 

Chipilte. 

Meloncillo, — dark. 

Quita calzon. 

Palo grande. 

Pigeon- wood {Coccoloha diversi- 
folia). 

Rose-apple {Jambosa vulgaris). 

Sebesten {Cordia sebestena). 

Gorrion. 

Canelillo. 

Chicate. 

Rosewood {Balbergia). 

Guilsinse. 

Guaquilite. 

Sandbox-tree ( Sura crepitans). 

Screw-pine {Pandanus) ; the heart- 
wood is very hard and orna- 
mental. 

Salm {Jacaranda) ; light-colored, 
much used for door-frames. 

Ironwood {Laplacea hcematoxy- 
lon) . 

Pine, ocote {Pinus cubensis). 



APPENDIX. 



413 



Pine, long-leaved {P. macrophyl- 

lurti). 
Poknoboy {Bactris bdlanoidea) . 
Sandpaper-tree {Curatella Aineri- 

cana), — the rough leaves used 

for sandpaper. 
Hog-gum (^Symphonia glohuli- 

fera). 
Walnut [Picrodendron juglans) . 
Tamarind ( Tamarindus Indica). 
Melon. 

Espina blanea {Acacia Arabica) . 
Copal {Hedwigia halsamifera) . 
Copalehe, smsl\{Strychnos 2yseudo- 

qxdna^. 
Pimiento {Pimenta vulgaris). 
Zebra-wood {Eugenia fragrans). 
Mignonette-tree {Laiosorda iner- 

mis) . 
Totaseamite, — yellow. 
Guazuma ( G. tomejitosa) . 
Pepeto. 
Dulcete. 

Oak {Ilex sideroxyloides). 
Tamaeillo. 
Zapotillo. 
Caumillo. 



Spanish plum {Spondias pur- 
purea). 

Santa Maria {Calophyllum ca- 
laha) . 

Filo. 

Macaligua. 

Loro. 

Madrefera. 

Sincho. 

PomegTanate {Punica granatum). 

Sapodilla {Achras sapota). 

Ziricote, — beautifully marked ; 
heavy. 

Pine, mountain {P. Ayacahuite). 

Pine {P.filifolia). 

Maho {Spondias P). 

Sapoton {Pachira macrocarpta) . 

Tamarind, wild {Pithecolobium 
Jilicifolium) . 

White-wood {Oreodaphne leucox- 
ylon) . 

Willow, yellow {Salix). 

Ebony, mosaic {Brya ebenus). 

Balsam {Myrospermum salvato- 
riensis). 

Pimientillo. 

Qualm {Cecropia peltata) . 



LEAF-CUTTING ANTS. 

The Qilcodoma, Zompopos, or leaf-cutting ants, are such a pest 
to the fruit-growers of Central America that I have quoted from 
Mr. Belt the most satisfactory account of their habits that has 
ever been published. He says : — 

" The first acquaintance a stranger generally makes with them is 
on encountering their paths on the outskirts of the forest crowded 
with the ants, — one lot carrying off the pieces of leaves, each piece 
about the size of a sixpence and held up vertically between the jaws 
of the ant, another lot hurrying along in an opposite direction emptj^ 
.handed, but eager to get loaded with their leafy burdens. If he fol- 



414 APPENDIX. 

lows this last division, it will lead him to some 3'oimg trees or shrubs, 
up which the ants mount, and where each one, stationing itself on the 
edge of a leaf, commences to make a circular cut with its scissor-like 
jaws from the edge, its hinder feet being the centre on which it turns. 
When the piece is nearly cut off, it is still stationed upon it, and it 
looks as though it would fall to the ground with it ; but on being 
finally detached, the ant is generally found to have hold of the leaf 
with one foot, and soon righting itself, and arranging its burden to 
its satisfaction, it sets off at once on its return. Following it again, 
it is seen to join a throng of others, each laden like itself, and without 
a moment's delaj' it hurries along the well-worn path. As it proceeds, 
other paths, each thronged with busy workers, come in from the sides, 
until the main road often gets to be seven or eight inches broad, and 
more thronged than the streets of the city of London. 

" After travelling for some hundreds of j'ards, often for more than 
half a mile, the formicarium is reached. It consists of low wide 
mounds of brown clayey-looking earth, above and immediately around 
which the bushes have been killed by their buds and leaves having 
been persistenth^ bitten off as the^' attempted to grow after their first 
defoliation. Under high trees in the thick forest the ants do not make 
their nests, because, I believe, the ventilation of their underground 
galleries, about which the^^ are very particular, would be interfered 
with, and perhaps to avoid the drip from the trees. It is on the out- 
skirts of the forest, or around clearings or near wide roads that let in 
the sun, that these formicariums are generally found. Numerous round 
tunnels, varying from half an inch to seven or eight inches in diam- 
eter, lead down through the mounds of earth ; and man^' more from 
some distance around also lead underneath them. At some of the 
holes on the mounds ants will be seen busily at work bringing up 
little pellets of earth from below and casting them down on the 
ever-increasing mounds, so that its surface is nearly fresh and new- 
looking. . . . 

" The ceaseless toiling hosts impress one with their power, and one 
asks. What forests can stand before such invaders ? How is it that 
vegetation is not eaten off the face of the earth ? Surel}^ nowhere but 
in the tropics, where the recuperative powers of Nature are immense 
and ever active, could such devastation be withstood. . . . None 
of the indigenous trees appear so suitable for them as the introduced 
ones. ... ' 

" In June, 1859, verj^ soon after the formation of my garden, the 
leaf-cutting ants came down upon it, and at once commenced denud- 



APPENDIX. 415 

ing the young bananas, orange, and mango trees of their leaves. I 
followed up the paths of the invading hosts to their nest, which was 
about one hundred j^ards distant, close to the edge of the forest. 
The nest was not a very large one, the low mound of earth covering 
it being about four yards in diameter. At first I tried to stop the 
holes up ; but fresh ones were immediatel}'- opened out. I then dug 
down below the mound and laid bare the chambers beneath, filled 
with ant-food and young ants in every stage of growth. But I soon 
found that the underground ramifications extended so far and to so 
great a depth, whilst the ants were continually at work making fresh 
excavations, that it would be an immense task to eradicate them by 
such means ; and notwithstanding all the digging I had done the first 
day, I found them as busily at work as ever at my garden, which they 
were rapidly defoliating. At this stage our medical officer. Dr. J. H. 
Simpson, came to my assistance, and suggested the pouring car- 
bolic acid, mixed with water, down their burrows. The suggestion 
proved a most valuable one. We had a quantity of common brown 
carbolic acid, about a pint of which I mixed with four buckets of 
water, and, after stirring it well about, poured it down their burrows. 
I could hear it rumbling down to the lowest depths of the formicarium, 
four or five feet from the surface. The effect was all that I could 
have wished ; the marauding parties were at once drawn off' from my 
garden to meet the new danger at home. The whole formicarium was 
disorganized. Big fellows came stalking up from the cavernous regions 
below, only to descend again in the utmost perplexity. 

' ' Next day I found them busily employed bringing up the ant-food 
from the old burrows and carrying it to a new one a few yards dis- 
tant ; and here I first noticed a wonderful instance of their reasoning 
powers. Between the old burrows and the new one was a steep slope. 
Instead of descending this with their burdens, they cast them down 
on the top of the slope, whence they rolled down to the bottom, where 
another relay of laborers picked them up and carried them to the new 
burrow. It was amusing to watch the ants hurrying out with bundles 
of food, dropping them over the slope and rushing back immediately 
for more. They also brought out great numbers of dead ants that the 
fumes of the carbolic acid had killed. A few days afterwards, when 
I visited the locality again, I found both the old burrows and the new 
one entirely deserted, and I thought they had died ofl^" ; but subsequent 
events convinced me that the survivors had only moved away to a 
greater distance. It was fully twelve months before my garden was 
again invaded. I had then a number of rose-trees, and also cabbages 



416 APPENDIX. 

growing, which the ants seemed to prefer to everything else. The 
rose-trees were soon defoliated, and great havoc was made amongst 
the cabbages. I followed them to their nest, and found it about two 
hundred yards from the one of the year before. I poured down the 
burrows, as before, several buckets of water with carbolic acid. The 
water is required to carry the acid down to the lowest chambers. 
The ants, as before, were at once withdrawn from my garden ; and 
two days afterwards, on visiting the place, I found all the survivors 
at work onone track that led directly to the old nest of the year be- 
fore, where the}^ were busily emploj'ed making fresh excavations. 
Many were bringing along pieces of the ant-food from the old to the 
new nests ; others carried the undeveloped white pupse and larvae. 
It was a wholesale and entire migration ; and the next day the formi- 
carium down which I had last poured the carbolic acid was entirely 
deserted. 

"Don Francisco Velasquez informed me in 1870 that he had a 
powder which made the ants mad, so that they bit and destroj-ed each 
other. He gave me a little of it, and it proved to be corrosive subli- 
mate. I made several trials of it, and found it most efficacious in 
turning a large column of the ants. A little of it sprinkled across 
one of their paths in dry weather has a most surprising effect. As 
soon as one of the ants touches the white powder it commences to 
run about wildl}*, and to attack an}^ other ant it comes across. In a 
couple of hours round balls of the ants will be found all biting each 
other ; and numerous indi^aduals will be seen bitten completely in 
two, whilst others have lost some of their legs or antennae. News of 
the commotion is carried to the formicarium, and huge fellows, meas- 
uring three quarters of an inch in length, that only come out of the 
nest during a migration or an attack on the nest or one of the work- 
ing columns, are seen stalking down with a determined air, as if the}' 
would soon right matters. As soon, however, as they have touched 
the sublimate, all their stateliness leaves them ; they rush about, their 
legs are seized hold of b}' some of the smaller ants alreadj^ affected 
by the poison, and the}' themselves begin to bite, and in a short time 
become the centre of fresh balls of rabid ants." ^ 

I wish I could quote all Mr. Belt's interesting article ; for 
his conclusion as to the use the ants make of the bits of leaf 
they are so incessantly collecting, is an ingenious one, and prob- 
ably true. It is certain that the little fellows are never seen 

^ Thomas Belt, The Naturalist in Nicaragua, p. 71. 



APPENDIX. 417 

taking a nibble of their burdens, wliicli would probably be the 
case if this material was intended for food ; and Mr. Belt thinks 
that the smaller ants, who seldom leave the nest and never carry 
leaves, have the task of cutting the leaves up into very small 
bits, which serve as manure for a minute fungus, which is the 
real ant-food. It seems that " some of the ants make mistakes, 
and carry in unsuitable leaves ; thus grass is always rejected by 
them. But I have seen some ants, perhaps young ones, carrying 
leaves of grass ; but after a while these pieces are always brought 
out again and thrown away. I can imagine a young ant get- 
ting a severe ear-wigging from one of the major-domos for its 
stupidity." 



QUICHE PRAYER. 

Here is a translation I have made from the Spanish version 
given by Milla of a Quiche prayer ; and as the petitioner is a 
supposed Christian, it will serve to illustrate the theological sta- 
tus of the Indio converts, and no less of their descendants of the 
present day. Compare it with the heathen prayer (p. 249) : — 

" O Jesus Christ my God, thou God the Son with the Father and 
the Holy Spirit art but one God ! To-day on this day, at this hour, 
on this da}^ of Tijax, I invoke the holy spirits who attend the dawn 
and the last glimmerings of daj- ! With the holy spirits I pray to 
thee, O chief of the Genii who dwell in this mountain of Sija-Raxqain ! 
Come, blessed spirits of Juan Vaehiae, of D. Domingo Vachiac, of 
Juan Ixquiaptop ; blessed spirits of Francisco Ecoquij, of Diego Soom, 
of Juan Tay, of Alonso Tzep ; holy spirits, I repeat, of Diego Tzi- 
quin and Don Pedro Noj ; you, O priests, to whom all things are 
open, and thou Chief of the Genii ; ye Gods of the mountain, Gods of 
the plain, Don Puruperto Martin, — come, accept this incense, accept 
now this candle ! Come also mother mine, holy Mary, and thou my 
Lord of Esquipulas, the Lord of Capetagua, . . . Captain Santiago, 
Saint Christopher, . . . thou Lord and King Pascual, be present here ! 
And thou frost, thou God of the plain, thou God Quiacbasulup, thou 
Lord of Retal-euleu [here follows a long list of names of towns and 
mountains] ! I make myself compadre and comadre, I who pray ; I 
am the witness and the brother of this man who makes himself your 
son, of this man who prays. O blessed spuits, suffer no evil to 

27 



418 APPENDIX. 

come to him, nor let him be in any way unhappj" ! I the one who 
speak, I the priest, I who burn this incense, I who praj' for him, I 
who take him under m}^ protection, I beseech you that he may easil}' 
find his food. Do thou then, God, send him his money ; do not 
allow him to get sick with fever, let him not become paralytic, let 
him not be choked with a cough, let him not be bitten by a serpent, 
let him not be swollen with wind nor asthmatic, let him not become 
mad nor be bitten by a dog, let him not perish by a thunderbolt, 
suffer him not to perish by rum, nor die by sword or stave, neither 
let an eagle snatch him awaj^ ; assist him, O clouds! assist him, O 
lightnings ! assist him, O thunderclap ! Aid him, Saint Peter, aid him. 
Saint Paul, aid him, thou Eternal Father ! I then who have spoken 
for him thus far, I pray that sickness may come upon his opponents ; 
grant that when his enem}' goes forth from his house he may encoun- 
ter sickness ; grant likewise that wherever he may please to go, there 
he ma}' meet with difficulties. Do your duty against enemies wherever 
the}^ may be ; do it as I pray you, blessed spirits ! God be with 3'ou ! 
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost! So be it! 
Amen, Jesus ! " 



THE NAMES OF GUATEM ALTEC AN TOWNS. 

It is uncertain whether at the present day any of the abo- 
riginal names of places survive, for the successive invaders from 
the North or from beyond the seas, if they did not utterly de- 
stroy towns, imposed new names on the conquered places. We 
speak of the ruins of Palenque or of Quirigua, but we do not 
know the former names of these places, and call them, for con- 
venience, by the name of the nearest modern village. Much 
ingenuity has been expended in the derivation of Indian names 
still extant, even the name of the republic itself being one of 
the undetermined ones ; for while Guatemala is undoubtedly 
taken from the name of the Cakchiquel capital, Tecpan Quahte- 
malan, it is not known whether this was named for Prince 
Jieutemal, or indeed whether the prince of that name ever ex- 
isted. Quiche is derived from qui, " many," and cJie, " trees ; " 
or from quecTie^ queclielau, meaning " a forest," — an inappro- 
priate name now. No less questionable are the^ derivations of 
T'ucurub, " town of owls ; " Us(^Iiz')cuintla(ji) , " land of dogs ; " 
Izmachi, " black hair ; " and many others. 



APPENDIX. 419 

The termination 'pan means a " standard " or " chief place ; " 
hence, Mayapan of the Mayas, and Totonicapan of the Toto- 
naques. Tepee is a " mountain," or " high place ; " hence, Alote- 
peque, Coatepeque, Olintepeque, Jilotepeque, and Quezaltepeque, 
— all of them in mountainous regions, the second being a vol- 
cano of considerable height. Tlan means a " city " or " home ; " 
hence, Atitlan, "the home of the old woman (Atit)," Zapotitlan, 
etc. The most common termination is tenango, a Mexican word 
with much the same meaning as tlcm, — Huehuetenango being 
equivalent to " the ancient abode ; " Chimaltenango to " the 
House of the Shield." 

A troublesome matter is the varying and uncertain orthog- 
raphy of most of the names now in use. Goattemala, Gaute- 
mala, Guatimala, are all used by writers. The termination pan 
is often in official publications spelled pam. Quezaltenango is- 
properly, though seldom, written Quetzaltenango ; and Cumarcah 
or Gumarcah, Izabal or Yzabal, Jutiapa or Xutiapa, are common 
variations. The omission of the letter n in such words as Mon- 
tezuma and Montagua, and at the end of Escuintlan, is the rule 
in Guatemala ; but foreign writers do not always regard it. The 
interchange of h and v is common, — as hejueo or vejuco ; henta 
or venta. So far as sound goes, the name of the large macaw 
may be Juaeamalla or Gruaeamaya. Tzolola was one form of 
Solola ; Taltic, of Tactic ; and Mictlan, of 3Iita. 

It is quite possible that Soconusco is derived from xoconocJitli, 
a word meaning " wild figs," and Honduras from fonduraSy 
meaning " depths," although the application may not be clear 
at the present day. More satisfactory are Michatoyatl, " a river 
abounding in fish : " Paa^a, " water which separates," — the Rio 
Pax, or Paz, having always been the boundary between Guate- 
mala and San Salvador. Tonald, the " City of the Sun," 
and G-umarca{a)]i, " ruined houses," are generally admitted to 
be correct derivations. 

The Spanish invaders exhibited slight inventive powers, and 
some half a dozen saints were made godfathers and godmothers 
to all the Indian towns that were important enough to be re- 
christened ; and Santos Juan, Jose, Tomas, and Marcos, and 
Santas Maria, Lucia, Ana, and Catarina are the favorites, al- 
though Pedro, Esteban, Jago, Miguel, Antonio, Cristoval, Pablo, 



420 APPENDIX. 

Izabal, and Clara are by no means neglected. The proper 
name of the capital city of Guatemala is Santiago (St. James) ; 
and if the ambitious projects dear to the late President Barrios 
should be accomplished, as seems not improbable, England will 
have to be satisfied with St. George, and leave " The Court of 
St. James " to the Central American kingdom. 

To the Anglo-Saxon such names as True Cross, Holy Cross, 
Thanks to God, City of Angels, Nativity, and Holy Saviour seem 
wholly inappropriate as names of places ; but to the devout 
Spaniard they were evidently favorite appellations. Nor are 
they very different from Praise-God Barebones, Faith, Prudence, 
and the like, which we know were not uncommon appellatives 
among the Puritans. 



NO RUINS OF DWELLINGS. 

In all the remains of ancient cities or holy places hitherto 
discovered in Central America, there are temples or oratories, 
and so-called palaces, but not a sign of human habitations ; even 
the palaces are apparently too small for comfortable, habitation, 
and the temples would not admit more than four or five persons 
at the same time. Herrera says there " were so many and such 
stately Stone Buildings that ifc was amazing; and the greatest 
Wonder is, that, having no Use of any Metal, they were able to 
raise such Structures, which seem to have been Temples, for 
their Houses were always of Timber and thatched." Always of 
less durable material than stone, the houses have disappeared, 
and we must not infer that there were no dwellers about the 
places where we find to-day only monuments of the dead or re- 
ligious edifices. At the present time there is many a village in 
Guatemala where the church is the only building of masonry, 
all the houses being of the most perishable materials, as palm 
stems and leaves, bark and mud. If the town of Livingston were 
destroyed to-day and not rebuilt, there would be nothing on the 
site after two years to show that men had ever lived there. 

It would certainly be interesting to learn why 'many of the 
temples have doors, passages, and even rooms that a man of 
average stature cannot stand erect in. 



APPENDIX. 



421 



MIXTURE OF RACES IN CENTRAL AMERICA. 

To show how difficult the study of race peculiarities must be 
in a country where there is so much amalgamation, I give a list 
of the names of some of the crosses : — 

Crosses. Male. Female. 

Mestizo (Ladino) . . . Spaniard. Indian woman. 

Castiso ...... Spaniard. Mestiza. 

Espafiolo Castiso. Spanish woman. 

Mulato Negro. Spanish woman. 

Moriseo ...... Spaniard. Mulata. 

Albino . Moriseo. Spanish woman. 

Tornatras Albino. Spanish woman. 

Tente en el aire .... Tornatras. Spanish woman. 

Lobo (wolf) Negro. Indian woman. 

Caribnjo Lobo. Indian woman. 

Barsino Co^'ote (Indigene). Mulata. 

Grifo Lobo. Negress. 

Albarazado . . . . . Co^'ote. Indian woman. 

Chaniso Indio. Mestiza. 

Mechino Coyote. Loba. 



GUATEMALTECAN" COOKERY. 

I do not speak of the tables of the upper classes, where variety 
is found in Guatemala as well as elsewhere ; but of the common 
cookery that a stranger finds in travelling, it may truly be said 
that it has not a national character, nor does justice to the 
abundant material at hand. What there is of it is, however, 
good ; a fresh tortilla is better than the cakes of the Northern 
backwoods, and the wheaten bread made by the panadero of the 
village is exceedingly palatable. Frijoles, or beans, the most 
popular general dish, are always stewed over an open fire, and 
are much better than the baked beans of New England. Eggs 
are always present, either fried, poached, or baked in the shell 
(Jiuevos tibios) ; when fried, always seasoned with tomato, 
chillis, and vinegar. Salchichas, or sausages, fried in lard, 
with plenty of garlic ; gigote, or hashed meat ; higate, a potage 
made of figs, pork, fowl, sugar, ginger, cinnamon and allspice, 



422 APPENDIX. 

bread, soup, and innumerable ollas, — are present as solid dishes, 
the meats generally being of poor quality. Besides the vege- 
tables of Northern gardens, there are cMotes, palm-cabbage, 
and, best of all, plantain. For verduras, or greens, there are 
many plants, — none, however, better than spinach or dande- 
lions ; and the ensaladas are not remarkable. In the shore 
region one can have most delicious turtle-steak, white and ten- 
der as veal, iguanas fricasseed, — perhaps the best native dish, — 
javia-steaks, armadillo (which I am sorry to say I have not 
eaten), and fish of many kinds and flavors. 

I have spoken of the bad coffees served as " esencia," but 
have not said enough about the chocolate, which I never found 
carelessly prepared. Perhaps the best is prepared entirely at 
home ; that is, the beans of cacao are carefully roasted, as coffee 
might be, and the shells removed by rubbing in the hands. The 
metatle then serves to crush the oily mass, as corn is prepared 
in tortilla-making; sugar is added, and enough cinnamon or 
vanilla to flavor the crushed cacao, which becomes pasty by 
grinding, and may be run into moulds, or simply dropped on 
some cool surface to harden. These chocolate-drops are dis- 
solved in boiling milk as wanted, and the whole churned to a 
froth. Prepared in this way, chocolate is much better than the 
cake chocolate of the manufacturers. An ancient recipe was 
much more complicated than this, and although I have never tried 
it myself, I venture to give it to my readers. It is this : " One 
hundred cacaos, — treating them as has been described, — two 
pods of chilli, a handful of anis and orjevala, two of mesachasil 
or vanilla (this may be replaced by six roses of Alexandria, pow- 
dered), two drams of cinnamon, a dozen each of almonds and 
filberts, half a pound of white sugar, and arnotto to color it." 
This mixture must of course be whipped to a froth. 

Perhaps the people of Guatemala are as cleanly as others ; but 
according to our observation the common practice was to allow 
the dogs to lick the dishes, which received no additional washing. 
It was the custom also at the table d'hSte in the hotels to finish 
a meal by filling the mouth with water and spurting it on the 
tiled floor. Once, when we stopped at a way-side house to get 
some coffee, the senora made a little fire out of doors, put the 
coffee in a very black pot to boil, and, after fanning the reluctant 



APPENDIX. 423 

fire with her straw hat, threw herself on the ground near by to 
rest and smoke her puro. When the pot was near to boiling, she 
reached out her bare leg and tested the temperature of the contents 
with her toe, as a Northern cook might have used his finger. Frank 
was scandalized ; but. after all, it was merely a matter of taste. 



PHOTOGRAPHS USED IN ILLUSTRATION. 

In stating that the scenes illustrated in this book are all from 
photographs, it may be added that the clearness of the atmo- 
sphere enables a distant view to be taken with great distinctness 
(unfortunately lost in the mechanical reproductions) even in 
minute details. The lens used for views not requiring extreme 
rapidity was the Dallmeyer single landscape, — a lens unsur- 
passed for its purpose ; while for architectural subjects, or those 
in motion, a Ross rapid rectilinear was generally used. The 
plates were those prepared by Allen & Rowell, of Boston, — 
as usual, of the finest quality. For apparatus, the camera 
was a 5 X 8 size of the American Optical Company's make, 
fitted with a changing box containing eighteen plates, and also 
with an attachment, arranged by the author, for making two or 
three smaller pictures on the 5x8 plate. I carried no tent, 
but changed my plates at night under a blanket, depending on 
touch rather than sight. For the stereoscopic pictures, I used 
a pair of Euryscope No. lenses. The plates were developed 
months afterwards, with a very small percentage of failures. In 
later journeys in Guatemala I have used plates of the 8 X 10 
size ; but for all purposes of illustration the 4x5 size is to be 
preferred. For packing the plates I have used a strong barrel 
and cork-dust with complete success. It is a matter of deep 
regret that the method of mechanical reproduction utterly de- 
stroys all the beauty of the original photographs. In cases 
where phototypes are presented from ink-drawings, these have 
generally been drawn directly from a transparency which I have 
made from the original negative and projected in the lantern. 
The drawings are of large size, and reduced to one quarter, or 
even less, in the phototype. This method insures at least 
accuracy of outline. 



424 



APPENDIX. 



MONEY IN GUATEMALA. 

Persons interested in silver coinage might have a good field 
for collection here ; and one of the Government collectors, who 
had a fancy for numismatics, showed me a curious lot he had 
received in payment of taxes. Maximilian coins from Mexico 
were the rarest ; but every country of Central and South Amer- 
ica was well represented. Among current coins the dollar of 
Peru and Chili (^sols') are most common ; and the smaller change 
is mainly in Guatemalan and Hondureiian currency. The dollar 
{peso, piece of eight) contains eight reals, and the real two 
medios, or four cuartillos. This last is the smallest coin used, 
although the cent (centavo) has been coined. A real is twelve 
and a half cents, a medio six and a quarter, and a cuartillo 
three and an eighth ; but in the text I have spoken of these coins 
as valued in gold, or, approximately, ten, five, and three cents. 



CERTAIN HEIGHTS DETERMINED BY THE 
EXPEDITION. 



FRENCH 



Tactic 4,725 

Coban 4,356 

San Cristobal 4,643 

San Miguel Uspantan . . . 6,040 

Cunen 5,942 

Sacapulas 3,826 

Santa Cruz del Quiche . . . 6,621 

Quezaltenango 7,697 

Totonicapan 8,150 

Solola 7,041 

Guatemala City 5,013 

Antigua 5,072 

Ciudad Vieja 5,151 

Escuintla 1,450 

Amatitlan 3,901 

Palin 3,753 

Cuajinicuilapa 2,848 

Cerro Redondo 3,542 

Los Esclavos 2,394 

Agua Blanca 2,658 

Suchitan 4,108 

Santa Catarina (Rio) ... 2,251 



Santa Catarina (Pueblo) . . 2,324 

Esquipulas 2,986 

Paso del Rodeo 2,744 

Los Horcones . . . . . 3,637 

Piedra de Amolar .... 2,340 

Copan 1,830 

Vado Hondo 1,237 

Chiquimula 1,244 

Zacapa 449 

Pacaya 8,366 

Volcan de Agua (summit) . 12,313 

" " " (S. Maria) . 6,828 

" " " (crater bot.) 12,087 

Volcan de Fuego .... 13,127 

" " " (La Meseta) 12,001 

Acatenango 13,616 

Volcan de Atitlan .... 11,723 

Cerro Qnemado 10,201 

Santa Maria . . . .i . . 11,483 

Lago de Atitlan . . . . 5,112 

Lago de Amatitlan . . . 3,895 

Lago de San Cristobal . . . 4,643 



APPENDIX. 



425 



I find it impossible to reconcile some of these measurements 
of the French Expedition with my own or those of other ob- 
servers ; but usually the difference is not greater than might be 
expected from observations with the aneroid barometer. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 

Land is usually bought and sold by caballerias (33.33 acres), 
Jiectareas (2.47 acres), manzanas (a square of one hundred 
yards), or varas (2.78 feet). The most common weights are 
the quintal (d, hundredweight) and the arroha (25 pounds of 
16 ounces each). Among the Indies other weights and meas- 
ures are used, but I could find no trustworthy information about 
them. They also retain the old cacao currency to some extent, 
and I have been offered cacao-beans for small change, as the 
cuartillo is not common away from the large cities. 

400 cacao beans = contle. 
8,000 " " == jiquipil = 20 contles. 

24,000 " " = carga = 3 jiquipiles. 



A LIST OF PLANTS OBSERVED IN GUATEMALA. 

I am indebted to my friend Professor Sereno Watson, of 
Harvard, for the identification of species, which to the number of 
sixty he has already determined from some five hundred that he 
collected in the Departments of Livingston and Izabal. I did 
not myself make any collection, but noted the genera that were 
familiar to me as I travelled through the country. So little has 
been published about the Guatemaltecan Flora that I have ven- 
tured to add these notes to Professor Watson's list. 



Clematis americana. Will. Near Izabal. 
dioica, L. Panajachel. 
caripensis, HBK. Sacapulas, Ju- 

tiapa. 
polycephala, Bert. V. de Agua. 
sericea, HBK. San Jose. 
Davilla rngosa, Poir. Banks of Rio 
Dulce, Rio Chocon. 
lucida, Presl 1 Chocon. 



Doliocarpus pnbens, Mart. Livingston. 
Curatella americana, L. Dry hills near 

Quirigua. 
Tetracera n. sp. Rio Chocon. 
Guatteria Jurgensenii, Hemsl. Shores 
of Lago de Izabal, Chocon. 
n. sp. 
Anona squamosa, L. Livingston, 
muricata, L. Cunen, Uspantan. 



426 



APPENDIX. 



Anona Cherimolia, Mill. Common, 
palustris, L. Sea-shore near Liv- 
ingston. 

Xylopia frutescens, Aubl., var. glalsra. 
Shores of Lago de Izabal. 

Cissampelus Pareira, L. Izabal, Rio 
Dulce. 
tropeeolifolia, DC. 1 Izabal. 

Nymphaea ampla, DC. Rio Polo- 
chic, mouth of Rio Chocon. 

Argemone mexicana, L. 

Draba vulcanica, Benth. V. de Agua. 

Cleome polygama, L. San Felipe. 

.Moringa pterygosperma, Gaertn. Za- 
capa, Chiquimula. 

Bixa Orellana, L. 

Xylosma nitida, A. G. 

Alsodeia guatemalensis, Watson. Rio 
Chocon. 

Oncoba laurina, Oliver. Izabal, Rio 
Chocon. 

Casearia Brighami, Watson. Chocon. 

Polygala asperuloides, HBK. Izabal. 

Jatropha Curcas, L. 

Janipha Manihot, HBK. 

Croton. (Several sp. on coast, not de- 
termined.) 

Euphorbia Poinsettii. Uplands. 

Hura crepitans, L. Sacapulas, Zacapa. 
Two euphorbiaceous trees in 
eastern highlands. 

Drymaria cordata, Willd. Lago de 
Izabal. 

Quercus (2 sp.). Cunen to Quiche. 

Portulaca oleracea, L. Livingston, 
Chocon. 

Phytolacca icosandra, L. Antigua, 
Santa Cruz del Quiche. 

Amaranthus paniculatus, L. Cunen, 
Jutiapa. 

Sida rhombifolia, L. Chocon. 

Abutilon. (Trees at La Tinta. Several 
allied sp. banks of Rio Chocon.) 

Hibiscus Abelmoschus, L. Izabal. 

Gossypium barbadense, L. Living- 
ston. 



Hampea (?) stipitata, Watson. Large 

tree, Chocon. 
Paritium tiliaceum, A. Juss. Shore 

near Santo Tomas. 
Pavonia racemosa, Swartz. Rio Dulce. 
Eriodendron ceiba. Sacapulas, Chocon, 

Qiiirigua. 
Bernoullia flammea, Oliv. Istapa. 
Cheirostemon platanoides, Hum. & Bon. 

V. de Fuego, Encuentros. 
Helicteres guazumsefolia, HBK. Cerro 

del Mico. 
Pachira macrocarpa. Rio Chocon, 

Motagua. 
insignis, Sav. Red petals at Omoa. 
sp. Chocon. 
Theobroma cacao, L. Chocon, Quiri- 

gua, Pansos. 
Guazuma tomentosa, HBK. Chocon. 
Gouania tomentosa, Jacq. 
Gomphia (Ouratea) guatemalensis, En- 

gler. Chocon. 
Vitis sicyoides, var. ovata, Baker. Lago 

de Izabal. 
lanceolata, Watson. Rio Dulce, 

Rio Chocon. 
vulpina, L. var. Izabalana, Wat- 
son. Izabal. 
Clusia guatemalensis, Hemsl, V. de 

Fuego. 
Large tree, Chocon. 
Low, wide-spreading tree, Izabal. 
Matapalo tree. 
Symphonia globulifera, L. " Hog- 
gum." Large tree, Chocon. 
Calophyllum Calaba, Jacq. Livingston. 
Marcgraaviarectiflora, Triana & Planch. 

var. Goudoutiana. Chocon. 
Ruyschia Souroubea, W. Livingston. 
Sauraujia oreophila, Hemsl. V. de 

Fuego. 
pauciserrata, Hemsl. V. de Fuego. 
Sauvagesia erecta, L. Cerro del Mico. 

tenella, Lam. Barbasco. 
Salix (2 sp.). Lago de Izabal, Rio 

Polochic, Amatitlan. 



APPENDIX. 



427 



Erythroxylum sp. Livingston. 
Linum guatemalense, Benth. V. de 

Agua. 
Byrsonima crassifolia, HBK. Cult. 

Izabal. 
Bunchosia Lanieri, "Watson. Tree^ 

Izabal. 
Lindeniana, Juss. Cuilapa. 
StigmaphyUon Lupulus, Watson. Cho- 

con. 
Hirsea reclinata, Jacq. Eio Dulce. 



sp, 



? Chocon ? 



Cardiospermuni grandiflorum, Swartz, 
var. hirsutum, Kadi. Izabal. 
Halicacabum, L. Rio Chocon. 

Serjania mexicana, Willd. Rio Chocon. 

Paullinia sorbilis, Mart. Chocon. 
velutina, DC. Chocon. 
guatemalensis, Turcz. 

Melia Azederach, L. Escuintla, Izabal, 
naturalized. 

Guarea bijiiga, C. DC. 1 Chocon. 

Swietenia Mahogani, L. Chocon, Qui- 
rigua. 

Cedrela odorata, L. Chocon. 

Citrus media^ var. Limonum. Natural- 
ized. 

Oxalis dendroides, HBK. Cerro del 
Mico, 1500 ft. 

Tribulus cistoides, L. Shores. 

Guaiacum officinale, L. 

guatemalense, Herb. Kew, Zacapa. 

Quassia amara, L. Shores of Lago de 
Izabal. 

Picraena excelsa, Lindl. ? Chocon. 

Alvaradoa amorphoides, Liebm. (?) 
Chocon. 

Hippocratea ovata, Lam. Rio Dulce. 

Wimmeria discolor, Schlecht. Rio 
Dulce. 

Zizyphus guatemalensis, Hemsl. 

Ficus (3 + sp.). Chocon. 

Cecropia palmata, W. Rio Chocon. 

Dorstenia contrayerva, L. Chixoy Val- 
ley. 

Castilloa elastica, Cervant. 



Madura aurantiaca, Nutt. 
Peperomia (2 sp.). On trees, Chocon. 
Bursera gummifera, L. 1 Chocon. 
Spondias lutea, L. Chocon. 

purpurea, L. " Jocote." 

sp. ■? " Maho." Chocon. 
Rourea glabra, HBK. Lago de Izabal. 
Connarus Pottsii, Watson. Shores at 

Izabal. 
Mangifera indica, L. Naturalized. 
Anacardiiim occidentale, L. Cayo Pa- 

loma, Pacific coast. 
Quercus (2 sp.). Uplands above Cunen. 
Indigofera anil, L. 
Tephrosia toxicaria, Pers. 
Sesbania exasperata, HBK. 
Desmodium. 2 sp. at Chocon, another 

at El Mico. 
Mucuna puriens, DC. Vado Hondo. 
Erythrina velutina, W. Livingston. 
Myroxylon Pereirae, Klotzs. Escuintla. 

toluiferum, HBK. S. Coast. 
Poinciana pulcherrima, L. Antigua. 
Haematoxylon campecbianum, L. Us- 

umacinta Valley. 
Guilandina bonduc, L. Shores. 
Csesalpinia (2 sp.). Chocon and Pacific. 
Dalbergia calycina, Benth. Chocon. 
Cassia fistula, L. 

2 sp. common at Livingston, 
another at Antigua. 
Tamarindus indica, L. 
Hymenaea courbaril, L. Rio Chocon, 

Rio Polochic. 
Bauhinia (2 sp.). Chocon, Quirigua. 
Entada scandens, Benth. Chocon. 
Prosopis juliflora, DC. Dry uplands. 
Mimosa pndica, L. 

casta, L. Livingston. 

guatemalensis, Benth. 
Acacia Farnesiana, W. Jutiapa, Cui- 
lapa. 

spadicigera, Schlecht. 

arabica, W. Jutiapa. (44- others.) 
Calliandra saman, Gr. Santo Tonias. 
Pithecolobium sp. Vado Hondo. 



428 



APPENDIX. 



Inga vera, W. Rio Chocon, Rio Polo- 
chic. 

Schizolobium sp. " Wild tamarind." 
Rio Dulce, Rio Chocon. 

Chrysobalanus Icaco, L. Shores. 

Hirtella americana, Aublet. Chocon. 

Rubus sp. Alta Verapaz. 

Jambosa vulgaris, DC. Rio Dulce. 

Psidium guava, Radd. Pansos, San 
Felipe, 
sp. Quirigua, Rio Polochic. 

Jussisea repens, L. Rio Polochic. 

Rhizophora Mangle, L. Rio Dulce, 
Santo Tomas. 

Cacoucia coccinea, Aublet. Rio Cho- 
con, common. 

Terminalia Catappa, L. Naturalized, 
San Pedro Sula. 

Persea gratissima, Q. Naturalized. 

Oreodaphne sp. Cunen. 

Sechium edule, Sw. West coast, Cerro 
Redondo. 

Cucumis Anguria, L. Punta Gorda. 

LufFa acutangula, Roxb. West coast. 

Lagenaria vulgaris, Sw. 

Cyclanthera explodens, Naud. V. de 
Fuego. 

Microsechium guatemalense, Hemsl. 
Trujillo, Palin. 

Fevillea, sp. 

Carica Papaya, L. 

sp. with small, unedible fruit. 
Valleys of Volcan de Fuego. 

Passiflora Brighami, Watson. Living- 
ston, Rio Chocon. 
edulis, Sims. 

guatemalensis Watson. Chocon. 
choconiana, Watson, 
lunata, Willd. 
coriacea, Juss. 

quadrangularis, L. Antigua. 
3 sp. Rio Chocon, 1 El Mico, small 
plant with veined leaves, Chocon. 

Turnera sp. San Pedro. 

Aristolochia, sp. with immense blos- 
soms. Roatan. 



Cereus (2 sp.). Jutiapa, Zacapa, Chixoy. 

Opuntia coccinellifera, Mill. Antigua, 
Amatitlan. 

Begonia scandens, Sw. Chocon. 
2 sp. Chocon, 1 at Uspantan. 

Ximenia americana, L. Livingston. 

Loranthaceae. 3 sp. observed. Cho- 
con, Zacapa. 

Sambucus sp. Encuentros, SoloR. 

Rondeletia cordata, Benth. Guate- 
mala City, 
gracilis, Hemsl. Coban. 

Psychotria sp. Rio Chocon. 

Bouvardia sp. Cunen. 

leiantha, Benth. Chimaltenango. 

Exostemma sp. Livingston. 

Ageratum conyzoides, L. Common. 

Stevia sp. Quiche, Cunen. 

Mikania guaca. Chocon. 

Wedelia phyllocephala, Kernel. Chixoy 
Valley. 

Verbesina gigantea, Jacq. Zacapa. 

Dahlia sp. Quiche, Quezaltenango. 

Tagetes micrantha, Cav. V. de Fuego. 
sp. 2. San Cristobal, Patzun. 

Lobelia fulgens, Willd. Uplands. 

calcarata, Bertol. V. santa Maria, 
cordifolia, H&A. Coban. 

Lobeliaceae (3 sp.). 

Chrysophyllum Cainito, L. 

Sapota Achras, Mill. 

Lucuma mammosa, G. 

multiflora, A. DC. (1) Chocon. 

Jasminum officinale, L. Naturalized. 

Allamanda cathartica, L. Rio Chocon, 
Rio Polochic. 

Vinca rosea, L. 

Plumeria rubra L. (?) Several mem- 
bers of this family on Rio 
Chocon. 

Asclepias curassavica, L. Livingston, 
Uspantan, Antigua. 

Limnanthemum Humboldtianum, Gr. 
Lagoons, Rio Chocon. 

Datura (Brugmansia) suaveolens, 
Humb., Bonpl. Izabal. 



APPENDIX. 



429 



Physalis peruviana, L. 
Capsicum frutesceus, L. 

annuum, L. 
Crescentia Cujete, L. Jutiapa and dry- 
uplands generallj'. 
Jacaranda sp. Fine tree, Chocon. 
Bignoniaceae. 3 sp. Chocon forests, 

1 sp. Antigua. 
Acliimenes coccinea, Pers. Chixoy 

Valley. 
Martynia sp. Chixoy Valley. 
Jacobinia aurea, Hemsl. Chocon, Quiri- 

gua. 
Ipomoea bona-nox, L. 
Batatas, Lam. 
Quamoclit, L. 
Calonyction sp. Eight other convol- 

vulacese noticed. 
Cuscuta sp. Zacapa. 
Cordia Sebestina, Jacq. Escuintla. 
Heliotropium curassavicum, L. San 

Jose. 
Salvia coccinea, L. Santa Cruz del 

Quiche. 3 other sp. 
Lantana sp. Esquipulas. 
Avicennia nitida, Jacq. Golfete. 
Pinus cubensis, Griseb. 
macrophylla, Parlat. 
Ayacahuite, Erenb. 
filifolia, Lindl. 
Abies sp. 

Monstera (2 sp.). Livingston, Chocon. 
Aroids of many sp. and several genera. 
Wolfia punctata, Gr. Rio Chocon. 
Typha sp. 
Euter23e oleracea, Mart. 

edulis. 
Oreodoxa oleracea. 
Manicaria Plukenetii, Gr. and Wendl. 

Livingston. 
Desmoncus sp. 
Acrocomia vinifera. Oersted. Izabal, 

Chixoy Valley. 



Acrocomia sclerocarpa. 

Cocos nucifera, L. 

Attalea cohune. Mart. 

Bactris balanoidea, Wendl. Izabal. 

cohune, Watson. Chocon. 

Twenty-five sp. palms were col- 
lected at Chocon, but have 
not been determined yet. 
Commelyna cayennensis, Rich. San 

Felipe, 2 sp. Cunen. 
Pontederia sp. pink flowers. Livingston. 
Bambusa (2 sp.). Motagua, Chocon. 
Zea Mays, L. 
Agave americana, L. 

ixtli, Karw. 
Fourcroya gigantea, Vent. 
Pancratium caribseum, L. (?) Cayo 

Grande, Rio Polochic. 
Crinum sp. Rio Dulce. 
Smilax officinalis. Chocon. 
Ananassa sativa, Lindl. Izabal, Chixoy 

Vallej^ 
Bromelia Pinguin, L. Jutiapa. 

Karatas, Lemair. Jutiapa. 

Pita. 
Tillandsia (2 sp.). 

Bromeliaceoe (several sp.). Rio Dulce. 
Heliconia Bihai, L. Pansos, Quirigua. 

sp. Quirigua, Rio Dulce. 
Renealmia sp. 
Zinziber sp. 
Maranta (2 sp.). 

Vanilla planifolia, Andr. Chocon. 
Epidendrum bicornutum, Hook. 
Schomburgkia tubicina, Lindl. 
Oncidium citrinum, Lindl. Los Amates. 

iridifolium. HBK. 
Notylia guatemalensis, Watson. 
Ornithocephalus Pottsiee, Watson. 
Bletia Pottsii, Watson. 
Salvinia auriculata, Aubl. 

The number of Orchidaceae in 
Guatemala is very large. 



430 APPENDIX. 

A LIST OF WORKS RELATING TO CENTRAL 
AMERICA. 

A full bibliography of works that contain information about 
the region through which we have been travelling together would 
fill a volume much larger than the present ; but the following 
brief list of some of the more important titles may aid those who 
are interested in the past history or the future prospects of the 
tropical part of this continent. I have not thought it worth 
while to mention those unprinted works not at present acces- 
sible to the public, nor the ephemeral publications of simple 
tourists : — 

AcosTA, Fr. Jose de. Historia natural y moral de las Indias. Se- 
villa, 1590. 

Adam, Lucien. Etudes sur six Langues Americaines, Paris, 1878. 

Du parler des Hommes et du parler des Femmes. Paris, 1879. 

Alcedo, Antonio de. Diccionario geografico-histdrico de las Indias 
occideiitales 6 America ; es a saber ; de los reynos del Peru, Nueva 
Espafia, Tierra Firme, Chile y Nuevo Reyno de Granada. Madrid, 
1786-89. 5 vols. An English Translation, with Additions, hj 
G. A. Thompson, was published in London, 1812-15. 5 vols. 

Ancona, Eligio. Historia de Yucatan. Merida, 1878. 

Andagoya, Pascual de, Narrative of. Translated by C. R. Mark- 
ham. Hakluyt Soc. London, 1865. 

AsTABURUAGA, Francisco S. RepubUcas de Centro-America o Idea 
de su Historia i de su Estado actual. Santiago, Chili, 1837. 

Baily, John. Central America ; describing each of the States of 
Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Lon- 
don, 1850. 

Baldwin, John D. Ancient America, in notes on American Archae- 
ology. New York, 1872. 

Bancroft, Hubert H. Native Races of the Pacific States of North 
America. San Francisco, 1875 ef seq. 

Barcia, Andres Gonzales. Historiadores primitivos de las Indias 
occidentales, que junto, traduxo en parte y saco a luz, ilustrados 
con eruditas notas j copiosos indices el Senor Don An^ires Gonzales 
Barcia, del Consejo y Camera de Su Majestad. Madrid, aiio 
1749. 



APPENDIX. 431 

Bard, S. A. "Waikna : Adventures on the Mosquito Shore. London, 
1855. 12mo. 

Bastian, a. Die Culturlander des Alten Amerika. Berlin, 1878. 
2 vols. 

Steinsculpturen aus G-uatemala. Berlin, 1882. 

Bateman, James. Orchidacese of Mexico and Guatemala. London, 
1843. fol. 

Bates, H. W. Central and South America. London, 1878. 

Belaez, Garcia. Memorias para la historia del antiguo reino de 
Guatemala. Guatemala, 1851. 2 vols. 

Belly, Felix. A travers I'Amerique Centrale ; le Nicaragua et le 
Canal Interoceanique. Paris, 1867. 

Belt, Thomas. The Naturalist in Nicaragua : a Narrative of a resi- 
dence at the Gold Mines of Chontales ; Journeys in the Savannahs 
and Forests. London, 1874. 

Beltran de Santa Rosa, Fr. Pedro. Arte del Idioma Ma3'a redu- 
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Benzoni, Girolamo. History of the new World. Travels 1541- 
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Berendt, Dr. C. H. Analj-tical Alphabet for the Mexican and Cen- 
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Eemarks on the Centres of Ancient Civilization in Central 

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Bradford, Alexander W. American Antiquities and the Red Race. 
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432 APPENDIX. 

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— — Bibliotheque Mexico-Guatemalienne, precede d'un coup d'cBil sur 
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Grammaire de la langue Quichee ; espagnole-fran9aise mise en 

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Recherches sur les ruines de Palenque et sur les origines de la 

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The Names of the Gods in the Kiche M3-ths of Central America. 

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BtJLOM^, A. VON. Der Freistaat Nicaragua in Mittel-Amerika, und 
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Der Freistaat Costa Rica in Mittel-Amerika, etc. Berlin, 1850. 

Byam, George. Wild Life in the Interior of Central America. Lon- 
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Carillo, Canon Crescentio. Manual de Historia y Geografia de la 
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Casas, Bartolomeo de las. Narratio regionum indicarum per His- 
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An I Account | Of the First [ Voyages and discoveries | Made 

by the Spaniards in America | Containing | The most Exact Rela- 
tion hitherto pub | lished of their unparallel'd Cruelties j on the 
Indians, in the destruction of a | bove Forty Millions ^of People. | 
With the Propositions offer'd to the King of Spain, | to prevent the 
further Ruin of the West Indies. | By Don Bartholomew de las 



APPENDIX. 433 

Casas, Bishop of Chiapa, | who was an Eye | - witness of their Cruel- 
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Historia de las Indias, ahora por primera vez dada a luz por el 

Marques de la Fuensanta del Valle y D. J. S. Ra3'on. Madrid, 

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Catherwood, Frederick. Views of Ancient Monuments in Central 

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Stephens. 
Charenct, Henri DE. Le Mithe de Votan. Paris, 1871. 
Charnay, Desire. Cites et Ruines Americaines, Mitla, Palenque, 

Izamal, Chichen-Itza, Uxmal, recueillies et photographiees. Texte 

par VioUet le Due. Paris, 1863. 49 folio plates. 
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tions au Mexique et dans I'Amerique centrale, 1857-1882. Paris, 

1885. 
Clavigero, Francisco Yavier. Storia antica del Messico, Cesena, 

1780. 4 vols. 
History of Mexico from Spanish and Mexican Historians, MSS., 

Paintings, etc. Translated, with Dissertations, by Cullen. London, 

1807. 2 vols. 
Historia Antigua de Megico traducida por Don J. G. Mara. 



London, 1826. 2 vols. Maps and curious plates. 

CoCKBURN, John. A Journey over Land from the Gulf of Honduras to 
the Great South Sea. Performed by J. C. and Five Other English- 
men. London, 1735. 

CoGOLLUDO, Diego Lopez. Los tres Siglos de la dominacion Espa- 
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CoRTEz, Hernan, Cartas y relaciones de, al Emperador Carlos V. Co- 
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Davis, W. W. H. The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. Doyles- 
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De LA Borde. Relation de I'origine des Caraibes. Paris, 1674. 

Diaz del Castillo, Bernal. Historia Verdadera de la Conquista 
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of Mexico. Translated by Keatinge. London, 1800. Memoirs con- 

28 



434 APPENDIX. 

taining an account of the Conquest of Mexico. Translated by 
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DuNLOP, R. G. Travels in Central America. London, 1847. 

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month's Residence. London, 1829. 8vo. pp. 328. 

DuPAix, Capt. Antiquites Mexicaines ; contenant les diverses expe- 
ditions du capitaine Dupaix entreprises au Mexique, aux ruines de 
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DuRAN, Fr. Diego. Historia de las Indias de la Nueva Espaiia y 
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-- Fernandez, Manuel. Bosquejo Fisico, Politico e Histdrico de la 
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J Der sudostliche Theil der Republik Costa Rica. 1869. In 

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v.i Klimatischen Verhaltnisse Central Americas. Berlin, 1869. In 



" Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde." 

Dr. Frantzius has also translated from Palacio the " San Salvador and 
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FuENTES Y Guzman. Historia de Guatemala d recopilacion florida. 
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Gallatin, Albert. Notes on the Semi-Civilized Nations of Mexico. 
Trans, of the Amer. Ethnological Soc, vol. i. New York. 

Garcia, Gregorio. Origen de los Indios del nuevo mundo. Valencia, 
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Garcia y Garcia, Apolinar. Historia de la Guerra de Castas en 
Yucatan. Merida, 1865. Not completed. 



APPENDIX. 435 

GoMARA, Francisco Lopez de. Historia general de las Indias. 
Anvers, 1554. 

Pleasant Historie of the Conquest of the West Indies, now called 

New Spaj-ne, atcheived by the worthy Prince Hernando Cortez, 
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Gonzales, Dario. Compendio de Geografia de Centro-America. 
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Granados y Gaxvez, Jose Joaquin. Tardes Americanos. Mexico, 
1778. 

Grimm, W. Die Staaten Central- Americas. Berlin, 1871. 

Grisebach, a. H. R. Flora of the British West Indian Islands. 
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Guzman. Apuntamientos sobre la geografia fisica de la republica del 
Salvador. 1883. 

Habel, Dr. The Sculptures of Santa Lucia Cozumalhuapa. Wash- 
ington, 1879. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. 

Haefken, I. Reize naar Guatemala. Gravenhage, 1828. 

Hakluyt Society's Publications. Discoverjr of America ; Cortez'a 
Expedition to Honduras, etc. London, 1868. 

Hassaurek, F. Four Years among Spanish- Americans. London, 
1868. 

Helps, Arthur. The Spanish Conquest in America, and its relation 
to the Histor}^ of Slavery and to the Government of the Colonies. 
London, 1855-1861. 4 vols. 

Henderson, G. An Account of tlie British Settlement of Honduras, 
Being a Brief View of its Commercial and Agricultural Resources, 
Soil, Climate, Natural History, etc. To which are added Sketches 
of the Manners and Customs of the Mosquito Indians. London, 
1809. Second edition, 1811. 

Herran, V. Notice sur les Cinque Etats du Centre-Amerique. Bor- 
deaux, 1853. 

Herrera, Antonio de. Historia general de los hechos de los Caste- 
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1615. General History of the continent and islands of America 
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Humboldt, Alexander von. Vues des Cordilleres, et Monumens 
des Peuples Indigenes de I'Amerique. Paris, 1810. 69 PI. fol. 

— — Essai politique sur le Ro3'aume de la Nouvelle Espagne. Paris, 
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436 APPENDIX. 

Humboldt, Alexander Von. Kleinere Schriften. Umrisse von Vul- 

kanen aus den Cordilleran von Quito und Mexico. Stuttgart, 

1853. 8 vols. 4to. Atlas. 
IxTLiLxocHTL. Histoli'e des Chichimeques ou des anciens rois de 

Tezcuco, par Fernando d'Alva Ixtlilxochtl. Traduit par H. Ter- 

naux-Compans. Paris, 1840. 
JuARROS, Domingo. Compendio de la Historia de la Ciudad de Guate- 
mala. Guatemala, 1808. 2 vols. English translation by Baillv. 

London, 1823. 
Kingsborough's Antiquities of Mexico. 9 vols, folio. London, 1830- 

1848. 
Laferrij&re. De Paris a Guatemala. Paris, 1867. 
Landa, Diego de. Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan. Edited by 

Brasseur de Bourbourg. Paris, 1864. 
Larenaudi^re. Mexique et Guatemala. (L'Univers.) Paris, 1843. 
Larrazabal. Apuntamientos sobre la Agricultura y Commercio del 

Reyno de Guatemala. Republished b}^ the Sociedad Econdmica. 

Guatemala, 1860. 
Leclerc, Charles. Grammaire caraibe, suivie du catechisme caraibe. 

Paris, 1877. 
Bibliotheca Americana ; Histoire, Geographic, Vo^'ages, Arehe- 

ologie et Liuguistique des deux Ameriques et des iles Philippines. 

Paris, 1878. 
Leclercq. Dictionnaire Caraibe-franjais. See Breton-Raj'mond. 

Rennes, 1665. 
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Poblacion de la Repiiblica de Guatemala. Guatemala, 1881. 
Levy, S. Notas geograficas 3" economicas sobre la Repiiblica de 

Nicaragua. Paris, 1873. 
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Lorenzano, Francisco Antonio. Historia de Nueva-Espana escrita 

por su esclarecido conquistador, Hernan Cortez, aumentada con 

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Mahogany- Tree : Its Botanical Qualities, and how to select and cut 

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Martyr, Petrus. Petri Martyris ab Anghiera de rebus Oceanicis, et 

de orbe novo decades III. Basileae, 1533. 



APPENDIX. 437 

Marure, a. Apuntamientos para la historia de la revolucion 
de Centro America, publicados en San Cristoval de Chiapa, 
1829. 

Maudslay, a. p. Explorations in Guatemala, and the Examination 
of the Newly-Discovered Indian Ruins of Quirigua, Tikal, and the 
Usumacinta. London, 1883. Proceedings of the Roj-al Geographi- 
cal Societ}-. 

Mechlin and Warren. Report of a Journe}- from Belize to the city 
of Guatemala. Belize, 1872. 

Mendieta, Geronimo de. Historia Ecclesiastica Indiana. Publicado 
por Joaquin G. Icazbalceta. Mexico, 1870. 

Meye, Heinrich, und Schmidt, Julius. Die Steinbildwerke von 
Copan und Quirigua. Berlin, 1883. Folio. The Stone Sculptures 
of Copan and Quirigua. New York, 1883. (Very incorrect ; draw- 
ings poor.) 

MiLLA Y ViDAURRE, JosE. Historia de la America Central desde el 
descubrimiento del pais por los Espanoles (1502) hasta su inde- 
pendencia de la Espana (1821), precidida de una " Noticia His- 
tdrica " relativa a las naciones que habitaban la America Central a 
la llegada de los Espanoles. Guatemala, 1879. 2 vols. (A very 
valuable work, extending only to the year 1686, owing to the death 
of the author.) 

Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans I'Amerique Centrale. (In- 
complete.) V. d. 

Moke. Histoire des Peuples Americains. (Cited by Brasseur de 
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Molina, Alonso de. Vocabulario en lengua Castellana y Mexicana. 
Mexico, 1571. Folio. 

Molina, Felipe. Bosquejo de la Repiiblica de Costa Rica. Madrid,. 
1850. 

Montgomery, G. W. Narrative of a Journey to Guatemala, etc., in 
1838. New York, 1839. 

MoRELET, Arthur de. Voyage dans I'Amerique Centrale, I'lle de 
Cuba et le Yucatan. Paris, 1870. 

Travels in Central America, including Accounts of some Regions 

unexplored since the Conquest. From the French, by Mrs. M. F, 
Squier. London, 1871. 

Morris, D. The Colony of British Honduras, its Resources and 
Prospects ; with Particular Reference to its Indigenous Plants and 
Economic Productions. London, 1883. 

: Cacao ; How to Grow, and how to Cure it. London, n. d. 



438 APPENDIX. 

Morris, D, Liberian Coffee ; its History and Cultivation. Kingston, 

Jamaica, n. d. 
MoRTiLLET, G. DE. Lb Signc de la Croix avant le Christianisme. 

Paris, 1866. 
MoTOLiNiA, Fr. ToRiBio DE Benavento. Historia de los Indios de 

Nueva Espana. Coll. Ed. J. C. Icazbalceta. Mexico, 1858. 

Ritos antiguos 3- sacrificios. (Kingsborough, IX. Supp.) 1830-48. 

Norman, B. M. Rambles in Yucatan ; including a Visit to the Re- 
markable Ruins of Chi-Chen, Kabah, Zayi, and Uxmal. New York, 

1843. (Contains a Ma3'a Vocabulary and Grammar.) 
Nunez de la Vega. Constituciones diocesanas del Obispado de 

Cliiapas, etc. Guatemala, 1701. 
Ordonez, Ramon de. Historia del cielo y de la tierra, etc. MS. in 

the Museo Nacional de Mexico. 
Orozco y Berra. Geografia de las lenguas y Carta ethnografica de 

Mexico. Mexico, 1866. 
OviEDA Y Valdez, Gonzalo Hernandez de. Historia general y 

natural de las Indias Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Oceano. Sevilla, 

1535. Another edition, by Amador de los Rios. Madrid, 1855. 

4 vols, folio. 
Palacio, Dr. Diego Garcia de. (Oydor de la Real Audiencia de 

Guatemala.) Carta dirigida al Rey de Espana, Ano de 1576. 

E. G. Squier. New York, 1860. 
Paterson, William. Central America. From a MS. in the British 

Museum, 1701. Edited b}' 8. Bannister, London, 1857. 
Pelaez. Memorias para la historia del antiguo reino de Guatemala, 

redactados por el Ilmo. Senor Dr. Francisco de Paula Garcia 

Pelaez, arzobispo de esta sauta Iglesia metropolitana. Guatemala, 

1851. 3 vols. 8vo. 
Peralta, Manuel M. de. Costa Rica, Nicaragua y Panama en el 

siglo XVI (1552-1610), su historia y sus hmites, Madrid, 1883. 
Perez, Pio, Diccionario Maya. 
Perrey, Alexis. Documents sur les Tremblements de terre en Mexique 

et I'Amerique centrale. (Annales de la Societe d'emulation des 

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PiM, Bedford, and Seemann, Bertold. Dottings on the Roadside in 

Panama, Nicaragua and Mosquito. London, 1869. 
Pimentel, Francisco. Cuadro descriptivo y comparativo de las len- 
guas indigenas de Mexico. Mexico, 1862. Second "edition, 1875. 

3 vols. 
PoLAKAwsKY, Dr. H. Central America. In "Das Ausland," Nov. 1876, 



APPENDIX. 439 

Rau, Charles. The Palenque Tablet in the United States National 
Museum at Washington. (Smithsonian Contributions to Knowl- 
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Eaton, D. Ignacio. Proceso de Pedro de Alvarado y Nuiio de Guz- 
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1847. 

Reichardt, C. F. Centro-Amerika. Nacli den gegenwiirtigen Zu- 
standen des Landes und Volkes, in Beziehung der beiden Oceane und 
im Interesse der deutschen Auswanderung, bearbeitet von C. F. R. 
Braunschweig, 1851. 

Nicaragua, nach eigener Anschauung im Jahre 1852. Braun- 
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Remesal, Fr. Antonio. Historia general de las Indias Occidentales, 
J particular de la governacion de Chiapa y Guatemala. Madrid, 
1620. 

Reynoso, Fr. Diego de. Arte y Voeabulario de la lengua Mame o 
Zaklohpakap. Mexico, 1644. 

Rio, Antonio del. Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City 
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Ritter, Carl. Ueber neue Entdeckungen und Beobachtungen in 
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RiVERO. Atlas Guatemalteco en ocho cartas. 1832. 
v^ Roberts, Orlando W. Narrative of Voj-ages and Excursions on the 
East Coast and in the Interior of Central America, describing a 
Journey up the River San Juan, and Passage across the Lake of 
Nicaragua to the City of Leon ; pointing out the Advantages of a 
Direct Commercial Intercourse with the Natives. Edinburgh, 1827. 

RocKSTROH, Edwin. Informe de la comision cientifica del Instituto 
Nacional de Guatemala, pai-a el estudio de los fendmenos volcani- 
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Roman, Hieronimo. Republicas del Mundo ; Tercera Parte, De la 
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RosNY, Leon de. Ensayo sobre la interpretacion de la Escritura 
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200 copies. The original Essai sur le Dechiffrement de I'Ecriture 
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two hundred copies. 

Codex Cortesianus. Paris, 1883. MS. hieratique des anciens 

Indiens de I'Amerique centrale, conserve au Musee archeologique 



440 APPENDIX. 

de Madrid. Avec introduction et un vocabulaire de I'ecriture hiera- 
tique 3'acateque. 

Sahagun, Bernardino de. Historia de la Conquista de Mexico. 
Mexico, 1829. 

Historia de Nueva Espaiia. Mexico, 1829-30. 3 vols. 8vo. 

Historia universal de las cosas de Nueva Espaiia. 1830-48. 

(See Kingsborough.) 

Saint-Priest et Baradere. Antiquites Mexicaines. Paris, 1804. 
2 vols. Folio. 

Salisbury, Stephen. The Mayas. Worcester, Mass., 1877. 

San Buenaventura, Fr. Gabriel de. Arte de la Lengua Maj^a. 
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Sanchez de Aguilar, Dr. Pedro. Informe contra Idolum Cultores 
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ScHERZER, Dr. Karl. Sprachen der Indianer Central-amerikas. 
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V Die Indianer von Santa Catalina Istlavacan ; ein Beitrag zur 

Culturgescliichte der Urbewohner Central Amerikas. Wien, 1856. 

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ScHULTz, Rev. Theodore. The Arawack Language of Guiana in its 
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SoLis, Antonio de. Historia de la Conquista de Mejico, — "Con- 
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SoLORZANO Y Pereyra, Juan DE. PoUtica Indiana sacada en Lengua 
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folio, 2 vols. 1776. 

Sonnenstern. Descripcion del estado del Salvador. New York, 1859. 

Squier, E. G. The Volcanoes of Central America, and the Geographi- 
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proposed Interoceanic Canal. New York, 1850. ^ 

Nicaragua ; its People, Sceneiy, Monuments, and the proposed 

Interoceanic Canal. New York, 1852. 2 vols. 8vo. 



APPENDIX. 441 

Squier, E. Gt. Notes on Central America, particularly the States of 

Honduras and Salvador. New York, 1855. 
Stephens, John Lloyd. Incidents of Travel in Central America, 
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Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. London, 1843. 2 vols. 

Stoll, Dr. Otto. Zur Ethnographic der Republik Guatemala. Zu- 
rich, 1884. 

Stout, Petek F. Nicaragua, Past, Present, and Future ; a Descrip- 
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Strangevtays, Thomas. Sketch of the Mosquito Shore. Edinburgh, 
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SucKAU, Henri de. Une Voie Nouvelle a travers I'Anierique Cen- 
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Ternaux-Compans, H. Voyages, relations et memoires originaux 
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22 vols. 8vo. 

Thompson, George Alexander. Narrative of an Official Visit to 

- Guatemala from Mexico. London, 1829. 

ToRQUEMADA, J. DE. Mouarquia Indiana, con el origen y guerras de ' 
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quista, conversion, j otras cosas maravillosas de misma tierra. 
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ToRRENTE, M. Historia de la Revolucion Hispano- Americana (1809- 
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Tylor, Edward B. Anahuac ; or, Mexico and the Mexicans, An- 
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Valentini, Philip J. J. The Katunes of Maya Historj^ A Chapter 
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The Landa Alphabet ; a Spanish Fabrication. Worcester, Mass., 

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Valois, Alfred de. Mexique, Havana et Guatemala. Paris, 1862. 

Vandegehuchte. Observations astronomiques et topographiques sur 
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Verea. Calepino. (Vocabulary.) 

Veytia. Historia antigua de Mexico. 



442 



APPENDIX. 



V^ 



ViLLAGUTiERRE SoTO Mayor, Juan de. Histoi'ia de la Conquista cle 
la Provincia de el Itza, reduccion y progresos de la de el Lacandon, 
y otras naciones de Indies Barbaros, de la mediacion de el Reyno 
de Guatemala, a las Provincias de Yucatan, en el America Septen- 
trional. Madrid, 1701. 

Wagner, M., und Scherzer, Karl. Die Republik Costa Rica. Leip- 
zic, 1857. 

Wagner, M. Naturwissenschaftlichen Reisen im tropischen Amerika, 
Stuttgart, 1870. 

Waldeck, Fred. de. Voyage pittoresque et archeologique dans la 
Province d'Yucatan. Paris, 1838. Folio. 

Recherches sur les mines de Palenque. Paris, 1866. Folio. 

Walker, William. The War in Nicaragua. Mobile, 1860. (This 
was the filibuster who was shot at Trujillo.) 

Wappaus, Dr. J. E. Mittel- und Sud-Amerika. Leipzic, 1870. 

Wells, William V. Explorations and Adventures in Honduras ; 
comprising sketches of travel in the Gold Regions of Olancho, and 
a Review of the History and Resources of Central America. New 
York, 1857. 

Walker's Expedition to Nicaragua : a Historj^ of the Central 



American War and the Sonora and Kinney Expeditions, including 
all the recent Diplomatic Correspondence ; together with a new and 
accurate Map of Central America, and a Memoir and Portrait of 
General WilUam Walker. New York, 1856. 
Ximenes, Fr. P^rancisco. Las Historias del origen de los indios de esta 
provincia de Guatemala, traducidas de la lengua Quiche al Castel-. 
lano para mas comodidad de los ministros del sagrado evangelio. 
Viena, 1857. Ed. por Karl Scherzer. 




From an Ancient Manuscript. 



INDEX. 






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INDEX. 



[Illustrations are marked by italic pagination.'] 



Abutilons, 88. 
Acacia, 192. 
Acajutla, 11. 
Acorns in bark, 110. 
Agatized wood, 70. 
Agaves, 113, 355. 
Agua Blanca, 197. 
Agua, Volcan de, 159, 387. 
Aguacateca, 278. 
Aguan Eiver, 9. 
Aguardiente monopoly, 101. 
Aguas calientes, 5, 81, 381. 
Akahales, 261. 
Alaguilac, 278. 
Alajuela, railroad, 22. 
Alcaldes, 146. 
Aleman, Hotel, 91, 92. 
Alligator, eggs, 372. 

pear, 366. 

shot, 75, 371. 
Almolonga, 145, 269, 387. 
Alniuerzo, 30. 
Altar of Tohil, 122. 
Alvarado, Jorge de, 11. 

Pedro de, 265. 

widow of, dies, 389. 
Amapala, 16. 
Amates, Los, 214. 
Amatitlan, 174. 

Laguna de, 9, 174. 
Antigua, 159. 

ruins of, 161. 
Antonio, Saint, prayer to, 274. 
Ants, 375. 

in qualm-tree, 57. 

leaf-cutting, 418. 

white, 51, 375. 
Apes, origin of, 234. 



Argueta, 135, 151. 
Armor, coats of, 258. 

defensive, 258. 
Arms of Guatemala, 281. 
Army, 296. 

Asamblea Nacional, 292. 
Ass at Jutiapa, 194. 
Assassination attempted, 181. 
Atitlan, Lago de, 154, 156, 402. 

boat at, 153. 

Volcan de, 132, 882. 
Audiencia Eeal, 281. 
Avalanche from Agua, 358. 
Avocado pear, 366. 
Azacualpa, 192. 

Bahama grass, 369. 

Ball at Sacapulas, 116. 

Ball-game, 257. 

Balsam coast shaken, 390. 

Bananas, 851. 

Baiios de Medina. (See Bath. 

Barbasco, 218. 

Barbecue, 50. 

Barillas, M. L., 145. 

Barrack Point, 27. 

Barracks, Livingston, 33. 

Barrancas, 87, 157. 

Barrios, J. R. 149. 

in exile, 290. 

president, 291. 

visited, 180. 

Puerto, 60, 61. 
Bath, Atitlan, 152. 

Bola de oro, 183. 

Ciudad Vieja, 160. 

Escuintla, 172. 

in Pacific Ocean, 165. 



446 



INDEX. 



Bats, destructive, 226. 

vampire, 45. 
Bay Islands, 17, 67. 
Beans, 365. 
Beetles, 374. 
Belgian Colony, 36, 60, 
Belize, City of, 74. 

River, 8. 
Bibliography, 430. 
Birds of Guatemala, 374. 
Black sheep, 137. 
Blacksmiths at Zacapa, 210. 
Blow-gun, 236. 
Boas, 62. 
Boat at Atitlan, 153. 

Amatitlan, 174. 
Boca-nueva Valley, 79. 
Bonaca Island, 17. 
Botlass-fly, 375. 
Bourbourg, Brasseur de, 230. 
Brand on slaves, 267. 

mare, 102. 
Breadfruit, 170, 365. 
Breeds, mixed, 421. 
Bridge, Los Esclavos, 191. 

ropes, 107. 

vines, 79. 
Bridling a mare, 155. 
Bromelia Pinguin, 191. 
Buenaventura, San, 9. 
Bullfight, 185. 
Bulls, gentle, 82. 
Burial-ground, 119. 

mound, 106. (5ee Campo Santo.) 
Burned kings, 268. 
Butterflies, 53, 374. 

Caballos, Puerto de, 16. 
Cabildo of Coban, 93. 
Cabracan, 236. 
Cacao, 345, 346. 
Caceres, Alonzo de, 16. 
Cactus, 114. 

lassoed, 210. 
Cahabon Eiver, 9, 75. 
Cakchiquel Chronicle, 259, 277. 
Cakchiquels, 262. 
Calabash, 123, 193. 
Calonyction speciosum, 349. 
Calletano, Luciano, 24. 
Canajpu, 9. 
Candles offered, 208. 
Cane-brake, 74. 
Cane heads, 162. 



Cannibalism, 249. 
Canoa, 66. 
Cantaras, 117. 

Campo Santo, Livingston, 27. 
Quiche, 119. 

Coban, 98. 
Guatemala, 182. 
Caratasca, Lago de, 9. 
Carcaste, 126, 198. 
Carib boys, 274. 

prayer, 274. 
Caribbee, 273. 
Caribs, 271. 
Carillo, 22. 

Carmen, Church of, 179. 
Carrera, Rafael, 287, 288. 

tomb of, 178. 
Cartago, 9, 22. 

destroyed, 391. 

Volcan de, 383. 
Cartina, Lago de, 10. 
Cassava, 32, 365. 

grating, 32. 
Castillo de S. Felipe, 69. 
Castilloa elastica, 347. 
Cathedral, Santiago, 178. 
Cayo Paloma, 42. 
Cazuela, 82. 
Cecropia-tree, 57. 
Cedar, 337. 
Ceiba-tree, 49. 

Sacapulas, 115. 
Cenotes, 53, 385. 
Censer, ancient, 251. 

modern, 207. 
Centipedes, 374. 
Central America, bounds, 2. 

mountains, 3. 

lakes, 9. 

rivers, 7. 
Cerbatana, 236. 
Cerna, defeated, 290. 

president, 289. 
Cerro Quemado, 141, 382. 
Chama, Sierra de, 6. 
Chamiquin, 83. 
Champa building, 56. 
Champerico, 145. 
Chicaman, 108, 110. 
Chicha, 68, 163. 
Chicheria, 163. ,^ 

Chichicastenango, 127, 129. 
Cliildren desired, 250. 
Chile, 366. 



INDEX. 



447 



Chile relleno, 366. 
Cliiinalinat, 236. 
Chiote, 366. 
Cliiquiraula, 208. 
Chixoy bridge, 106, 107. 

River, 8. 

Valley, 114. 
Chocolate, 346. 

drink, 422. 

planting, 255. 
Chocon River, 4i. 
Chontales, 18. 
Chorti language, 278. 
Churcii, Carmen, 179. 

Coban, M. 

confiscation, 292. 

Quezaltenango, 143. 

ruined, Antigua, 161. 

service, Coban, 99. 
Circumcision, 247. 
City of Belize, steamer, 74. 
Ciudad Vieja, 160. 

destroyed, 388. 
Civil service. Quiche, 253. 
Clavigero quoted, 229. 
Cleanliness, want of, 422. 
Climbing-palm, 332. 
Cloth pattern, 95. 
Coatepeque, Lago de, 401. 
Coban, Campo Santo, 98. 

church, 94. 

Plaza, 94. 

Indio, 99. 
Cobre, 359. 
Cochineal, 337. 
Cockscomb Range, 6. 
Coconut, 358. 

young, 360. 
Cocos, 365. 
Coffee, 343. 

crop, 344. 

esencia de, 84. 

Liberian, 344. 
Cohune palm, 49, 330. 
Coir, 359. 
Colegio de Libertad, 101. 

Senoritas, 142. 
Coloradia (Leptus sp.), 34. 
Coma Jen, 51. 
Comal, 71. 

Comayagua plain, 6. 
Coniida, 30. 
Composite, 87. 
Conch soup, 376. 



Conch, trumpet, 76. 

various kinds, 376. 
Confiscated church, 292. 
Confra palm, 333. \ 
Congrehoy Peak, 384. 
Conquistadores, 282. 
Constitution, 286. 
Convolvulus, 81, 427. 
Cookery, 314, 421. 
Cooking-bench, 82. 
Copan, 229. 
Cordoba founded, 20. 
Corn at Argueta, 151. 

man made from, 235. 
Corozal mines, 11. 
Corozo palm, .329. 
Coseguina, eruption, 399. 
Cotuha, king, 231. 
Court at Livingston, 318, 

trials, 318. 
Coyote, 371. 
Crab-catching, 240. 
Creation of world, 233. 

man, 235. 
Criba, Laguna de, 10. 
Cross-breeding, 421. 
Cross on monoliths, 220. 
Cruz, Serapio, 289. 
Cuatro-reales, 147. 
Cuajinicuilapa, 191. 
Cuartillo, 102. 
Cuchumatanes, 6. 
Cuilapa, 191. 
Culhuacan, 229. 
Cunen, 111. 

Currency of Guatemala, 305. 
Cuscatlan, 261. 

Danta, 370. 

Deaf-mutes, school for, 300. 

Dahlia, 112, 158. 

Davila, Padre, 202. 

Death-rate, 65. 

Debt, public, 302. 

Departments, Costa Rica, 22. 

Guatemala, 294. 

Honduras, 15. 

Nicaragua, 20. 

San Salvador, 12. 
Depilto mines, 19. 
Deluge, Quiche, 234. 
Dentistry, Quiche', 238. 
Desmoncus, 332. 
Devisadero mines, 11. 



448 



INDEX. 



Dogs, half -fed, 83. 
Dolls at Antigua, 162. 
Dragon Rock, 55. 
Dulce, Rio, 9, 41. 
Dwellings, no ruins of, 420. 

Earrings, 225. 
Earthquake, Santa Cruz, 90. 

terms, 390. 
Earthquakes, 387. 

theory of, 407. 
Education, public, 296. 
Elena, Santa, 208. 
Encuentros, 130. 

mine, 11. 
Eruptions, volcanic, 386. 
Esclavos, Rio de, 8, 191. 
Escuintla, 164. 

conquered, 269. 

founded, 261. 
Esencia de cafe', 84. 
Espina blanca, 192. 
Esquipulas, 201. 

Santuario, 202. 
Ethnograpliic Chart, 271. 
Euphorbia, 84. 
Exancul, 141. 

Expenses of Guatemala, 303. 
Exports of Guatemala, 312. 
Ex-votos, 205. 

Falls of Michatota, 173. 

Eeather-work, 256. 
Ferns, 335. 

Ferro-carril del Norte, 62. 
Feudal system, 231. 
Fibre, agave, 355. 

banana, 354. 

ixtli, .355. 

pita, 354. 

plantain, 354. 
Ficus elastica, 349. 
Figueroa, Bishop, 203. 
Fish, 373. 

at Ilopango, 40.3. 
Flores murdered, 142, 286. 
Fonseca, Gulf of, 11. 
Forced loan, 290. 
Forest at Chocon, 324. 
Fort of San Felipe, 69. 

Jose, 177. 
Frank on Mabel, 106. 
Frijoles, 365. 
Frogs, 373. 



Fruits, 368. 

Fuego, Volcan de, 151, 392. 

Galero, Don J. M., 134. 
Game, 369. 
Garden, Solola, 134. 

Quezaltenango, 144. 
Garrapatos, 376. 
Gil, San, 59. 
Girdle- weaving, 252, 
Goyavas, green, 78. 

varieties, 368. 
Granada, 20. 
Granadillas, 93, 368. 
Granados, President, 290. 
Grasses, 369. 
Grasshopper, 57. 
Gualan, 212. 

Guanaja, or Bonaeca, 17. 
Guatemala City, 178. 

Street, 176. 
Guatemaltecan names, 418. 
Guavas, 368. 
Guepiles, 189. 
Guija, Lago de, 10. 
Guinea grass, 369. 
Gucumatz, 229. 
Gumarcah, 2-32. 

Heights of mountains, 424. 
Henequen, 355. 
Hevea braziliensis, 349. 
Hikatee, 372. 
Hippodrome, 187. 
Hondo Valley, 207. 
Honduras, 13. 

Interoceanic Railway, 17. 

name of, 419. 
Horse astray, 199. 
Hospitals, 316. 
House, Carib, 30. 
Houses in Coban, 96. 
Hueytlat, 2.30. 
Humming-birds fighting, 217. 

nest, 57. 
Hunahpu, 235. 
Hunapu volcanoes, 191. 
Huntoh, king, 258. 
Huracan, 233. 

ICACO PLUM, 367. 
Ideographs, 251. 
Iguanas, 47, 372. 
Ilocab, 231. 



INDEX. 



449 



Ilopango, Lago de, 402, 403. 

sacrifice at, 404. 
Imports of Guatemala, 308. 
Incense-burner, 207. 
India-rubber, 346, 34T. 
Indigo, 337. 

Instituto Nacional, 188. 
Intibuca, cool, 13. 
Istak volcano, 381. 
Istapa, 8, 168. 
Ixils, 278. 
Iximche', 259. 
Ixtli fibre, 355. 
Izabal, 224, 225. 

Lago de, 224. 
Izalco formed, 395. 
Izmachi founded, 231. 
Iztayul, 231. 

Jacinto, San, 207. 
Jaguar (tigre), 871. 
Jaguilla, 370. 
Jefes politicos, 294. 
Jesuits banished, 291. 
Jicara, 123, 124. 
Jocote fruit, 89, 367. 
Jocote village, 108. 
Jose', San, Costa Rica, 21. 

Guatemala, 165. 
Juan, San, Rio, 9. 
Jutiapa, 198. 

Kataoke, 126. 
Kingdom of Guatemala, 1. 
Kings of Quiche, 253. 
Kitchen, monks', 104. 

Labor wage, 314. 
Lacandones, 8. 
Ladron at Quiche, 127. 
Lago, Amatitlan, 174. 

Atitlan, 152, 154, 156. 

Guija, 10. 
Lamp, native, 98. 
La Paz, 192. 
La Tinta, 81. 
La Union, 11. 
Las Quebradas relics, 224. 
Lassoing cactus, 210. 
Law of Guatemala, 295. 
Legislature, Costa Rica, 22. 

Guatemala, 292. 

Salvador, 12. 
Lemoa, 127. 



Lemons, 358. 

Lcmpa, Rio, 10. 

Lempira rebels, 283. 

Leon founded, 20. 

Libertad, 11. 

Libraries in Guatemala, 301. 

Limas, 358. 

Limes, 358. 

Limestone corroded, 54, 65. 

Limon, Puerto, 22. 

Lion bird, 46. 

Listones, 95. 

Livingston, 28. 

death-rate, 65. 

free port, 36. 

landing, 26. 

street, 28. 
Lobelias, 88. 
Logwood, 337. 
Lomalarga mines, 11. 
Los Amates, 214. 

Machete, 65. 

Mafia (devil), 275. 

Mahogany, 335. 

Mail-service, 307. 

Maiz, 39, 863. 

Mam, 280. 

Mama-caixon, 263. 

Man created, 234. 

Man on fire, 159. 

Manaca palm, 49. 

Managua destroyed, 20. 
Lago de, 10. 
Treaty of, 21. 

Manatee, 870. 

Manihot, 865. 

Mango, 367. 

Mangroves, 323. 

Manzanillas, 171, 367. 
Mapachines, 370. 
Maps, 256. 
Mare sunstruck, 172. 

to bridle a, 155. 
Marimba, 122, 123. 
Markets in Guatemala, 188. 
Masaj-a eruption, 385. 
Mask in Museo Nacional, 200. 
Matagalpa mines, 19. 
Matapalo-tree, 325, 326. 
Maya language, 275. 
Measures and weights, 425. 
Mecapal, 78. 
Merendon, Sierra del, 6. 



29 



450 



INDEX. 



Mermaids in church, 112. 
Metatle, 70, 363. 
Micliatoya Falls, 173. 

Rio, 8. 
Mico, El, crossing, 223. 
Miguel, San, 84. 

Volcan de, 396. 
Mines, 11, 14, 19. 
Miracle, Esquipulas, 206. 
Mixed races, 421. 
Molina, Don Luis, 95. 
Money in Guatemala, 305, 424. 
Monkeys, 73, 369. 
Monolitlis, 219, 220, 221, 222. 
Monte Rico, 198. 
Montezuma's embassy, 262. 
Months, Quiche, 256. 
Moon-plant, 349. 
Morazan, General, 286. 
Mosquito Reservation, 18, 21. 
Motagua, Rio, 9, 211. 
Mozo hiring, 78. 
Mozo on road, 198. 
Mozos de cargo, 78, 279. 
Museo Nacional, 183. 

Nachan, 229. 
Nahoas, 229. 
Naiads in a spring, 85. 
Names of towns, 418. 
Newspapers, 301. 
Nicaragua, 18. 

Lago de, 10. 

Volcanoes, 383. 
Nopal, 338. 
Nutmegs, 362. 

Ocds, Puerto de, 172. 
Ocote, 76. 

Offspring desired, 250. 
Oilof cohune, 331. 
Ometepec, 10, 387. 
Omoa, 16. 

Montana de, 6. 
Opals, 14. 
Oranges, 357. 

cheap, 109. 

Teleman, 80. 
Organs in church, 128. 
Orchids, 333, 428. 

Pablo, San, 211. 
Pacaya palm, 331. 
Volcan de, 210. 



Paddle and machete, 6-5. 
Painting, Quiche', 250. 
Palenque, 229. 
Palin, 173. 
Palms, 328. 
Palo Cortez, 211. 
Panajachel, 155. 
Panela, 105, 342. 
Pansos, 9, 76. 
Papaya, 366. 
Paper, 256. 
Parties, political, 285. 
Passion-flower, 44, 376. 
Patzicia, 158, 891. 
Patzun, 157. 
Pawpaw, 366. 
Peccaries, 370. 
Pelican shot, 42. 
Petaca making, 276. 
Peten, Laguna del, 9. 
Petrifying brook, 104. 
Pharomacrus mocino, 97. 
Photographs taken, 423. 
Piedras Gordas, 198. 
Pier, San Jose, 166. 

Pimento palm, 331. 

Pine (Pinus), 337. 

Pine-apples, 191, 361. 

Pine-needles, 110. 

Pipiles, 271. 

Pit-craters, 401. 

Pita, 104, 357. 

Pitpans, 8. 

Plantains, 351, 352. 

Plants, indigenous, 425. 

Plaza, Coban, 94. 
Sacapulas, 118. 

Plough, Indian, 340. 

Pocomam women, 275. 

Pocomanis, 262. 

Poconchi Indios, 82. 

Poknoboy palm, 331. 

Political parties, 285. 

Polochic, Rio, 8, 72. 

Polygamy, unlawful, 254. 

Popul Vuh, 230. 

Porpoises in Golfete, 67. 

Postage-stamps, 307. 

Potato-fields, 136. 

Potatoes, sweet, 365. 

Pottery, 117, 189. . 

Poyas, 17. 

Prado, Juan, 105. 

Prayer, Quiche', old, 249. 



INDEX. 



451 



Prayer, Quiche, Christian, 417. 
President Barillas, 145. 

Barrios, 149. 

Carrera, 288. 

Cerna, 289. 

Granados, 290. 

how elected, 293. 

visited, 150, 180. 
Primavera, 105. 
Prisons, 116. 
Privies, absent, 154. 
Procession, religious, 186. 
Professional instruction, 299. 
Pronunciation of names, 129. 
Provisions, price of, 314. 
Puerto Barrios, 60, 61. 

Caballos, 16. 

Cortez, 16. 

Limon, 22. 
Pulque, 355. 
Puma, 371. 
Pumice, 174. 
Pumice razors, 153. 
Punishments in Guatemala, 319. 
Punta Arenas, 22. 
Pupuluca, 271. 

QUALM-TEEE, 57. 

Quaternity, 149. 
Quekchi Indio, 93, 277. 
Quetzal, 97. 
Quetzalcoatl, 229. 
Quezaltenango, 141. 

alcaldes, 146. 

church, 143. 
Quezaltepeque, 206. 
Quicab, king, 258. 
Quiche, Santa Cruz del, 118. 

language, 277. 

names, 233. 

praj'er, 417. 

ancient, 249. 

sacred book, 230. 

trousers, 119. 
Quirigua, plan, 217. 

Kiver, 216. 

Railroad Map, 168. 
to San Jose, 165. 
Razor of pumice, 153. 
Religion free, 295. 
Remedies, Indian, 317. 
Retalhuleu, 145. 
Revolution, 283. 



Rey portentoso, 232. 
Rice-crops, 39, 357. 

pounding, 356. 
Rivas, 18. 
Road-building, 106. 
Roatan, 17. 
Rock Island, 43. 
Rocket-making, 160. 
Roof-tile, 89. 
Roses, 87. 
Rosewood, .337. 
Rozales, Don Alonzo, 193. 
Ruins, Antigua, 161. 

Quirigua, 217. 

Utatlan, 120. 

Sacapulas, 115. 

Plaza, 118. 

Chixoy Valley, 114. 
Sacate buying, 157. 
Sacatepequez, 262. 
Sacaton, 192. 
Saccharine, 64. 
Sacrificatorio, 122. 
Sacrifice, human, 249. 

at Ilopango, 404. 
to Tohil, 246. 
Salcaja, 140. 
Salm-wood, 337. 
Salvador, San, 11. 

City destroyed, 392. 
San Andres, 156. 

Cristobal, 108. 

Felipe, 67, 69. 

Gil, 59. 

Jose, 165. 

Juan, 20. 

Miguel, 11. 

Tucurii, 84. 
Volcan de, 396. 
Santa Ana, 395. 

Catarina, 196. 

Cruz, Alta Verapaz, 90. 
breakfast, 108. 

Cruz (2), 109. 

Cruz del Quiche', 260. 

Maria wood, 337. 
Volcan de, 141. 
Santo Tomas, 86, 60. 

Chicastenango, 127. 
Santuario, Esquipulas, 202. 
Sapodilla, 337. 
Sapote, 131. 
Sapoton fruit, 44. 



452 



i:n'DEX. 



Saquinimac, 237. 

Sarsaparilla, 350. 

Sarstun, Rio, 8. 

Sauce, 70. 

Schools in Guatemala, 297. 

Scorpions, 374. 

Seat, stone, 280. 

Secondary instruction, 298. 

Secretaries of State, 293. 

Segovia, Rio, 9. 

Semetabaj, 156. 

Serpiente, 36. 

Sliaving with pumice, 158. 

Sheol, men in, 89. 

Sinca language, 278. 

Sipacua, 236, 240. 

Sisal hemp, 355. 

Slaves branded, 267. 

Smilax, 350. 

Snakes, 62, 67, 377. 

Solola, 131, 132. 

Sonsonate, 11. 

Spanish stirrup, 184. 

Spiders, 374. 

Squashes, 365. 

Stamped paper, 102. 

Stevia, 112. 

Stirrup, ancient, 184. 

Stoll, Dr. A., 271. 

Street, Guatemala City, 176. 

Livingston, 28. 
Subsidence, 158. 
Suchitan, 195. 
Sugar-cane, 340. 

crop, 342. 

mill, 341. 

yield, 39. 
Sulphur spring, 63. 
Suyacal, 78. 

Tactic, 88. 

Taltusas, 370. 

Tamahu, 87. 

Taxes in Guatemala, 303. 

Teachers' Institutes, 297. 

Tecpan Quauhtemalan, 160, 259. 

Tecum, 260. 

Tegucigalpa, 16. 

Telegraphs, 306. 

Teleman, 80. 

Temple, ancient, 245. 

Tenedores, 63. 

Terminos, Lago de, 8. 

Tepepul, king, 259. 



Teponaztles, 258. 
Theatre, 181. 
Theobroma cacao, 346. 
Tigres, 371. 
Tilapa, Rio, 266. 
Tile on roof, 89. 
Tipitapa, Rio, 10. 
Tizate poison, 243. 
Tobacco of Copan, 15. 
Tohil's altar, 122. 
Toldo, 66. 

Tollman, San Lucas, 9. 
Tomas, Santo, 60. 

Chichicastenango, 127. 
Tonala, Battle of, 266. 
Topiltzin Acxitl, 230. 
Toranjas, 358. 
Tortilla-making, 71, 363. 
Totonicapan, 137, 138. 
Trachyte, 406. 
Trapiche, 196. 
Trinity, Quiche', 230. 
Trousers in Quiche, 119. 
Trujillo, 16. 
Tucurii, 84. 
Tula, 229. 
Tultecas, 229. 
Tultec emigration, 260. 
Tun, 258. 
Turtle, 372. 
Turtle nest, 216. 
Tzutohiles, 277, 278. 

Ulita, Rio, 9. 
Uspantan, 110, 277. 
Usumacinta, Rio, 8, 116. 
Utatlan, 120, 232. 
Utila, 384. 

Vado Hondo, 208. 
Vampire-bats, 45. 
Vanilla, 334. 
Vara, 96. 

Vejuco de agua, 54. 
Vejueos, 51. 
Vine bridge, 79. 
Vital statistics, 316. 
Volcanic action, 406. 

cones, 407. 
Volcanoes of Central America, 380. 
Votan, 229. 
Vucubatz, king, 258. 
Vucub-caquix, 235. 



INDEX. 



45: 



Waeree, 870. 

Warree cohune, 331. 

Washout on road, 157. 

Water-vine, 54. 

Watson, S., collection, 327. 

Weaving, 95, 139, 252, 255. 

Wedding at Patzun, 158. 

Weights and Measures, 425. 

Wheat, 364. 

Wheat market, Solola, 132. 

Whistle, Las Quebradas, 227. 

Wizard, 263. 

Woman created, 235. 

Woods, native names, 411. 

Writing, Quiche, 250. 

Xbalanqde, 235. 
Xelahu, 145, 267. 
Xibalbay, 229. 



Xicaques, 17. 
Ximenes, 230. 
Xmucane, 234. 
Xpiyacoc, 233, 234. 
Xuchil, rape of, 269. 
Xutiapan, 194. 

Yam, 365. 
Yampux, 262. 
Yojoa, Lago de, 10. 

Zacapa, 210. 

puros, 211. 
Zapotitlan, 266. 
Zarco, Rio, 74. 
Zarza, 350. 
Ziricote, 337. 
Zompopos, 413. 



University Press : John Wilson & Son, Cambridge. 



"The most remarkable book ever produced upon the subject 
of Arctic explorations."— i/O^ff/V/li OF COMMERCE. 



Three Years of Arctic Service. 

AN ACCOUNT OF THE 

LADY FRANKLIN BAY EXPEDITION OF 1881-84, 

AND THE ATTAINMENT OF THE 

FARTHEST NORTH. 

The first full and authorized account of the most important and 
successful Arctic Exploration ever made. 

MAGNIFICENTLY ILLUSTRATED 

WITH 

OVER ISO ENGRAVINGS, MAPS, AND CHARTS. 



By Lieutenant A. W. GREELY, U.S.A., 

Cominancliiig the Expedition. 



This book contains Lieutenant Greely's story of an expedition wiiich reached the most northerly 
point ever attained ; and of an experience that stands alone in Arctic annals. Apart from the narrative 
of extraordinary suffering and final rescue which appears here, the fact that no one else ever passed 
the same length of time so far within the Arctic circle gives to the account the value and interest oi 
observations absolutely new. Lieutenant Greely's training, attainments, and above all the long study 
of Arctic matters and the Polar question which first led him to seek this service, all qualified him to 
make and to record these observations; and his book will be found to give his experience with a simple 
directness that makes the story the more absorbing, and with no detention of the reader over useless 
comment. 

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. 

PRICES AND STYLES OF BINDING. 
Extra Cloth, per volume, . . . $5 00 \ Half Morocco, Gilt, per volume, . . $8 00 
Sheep, Marbled Edges, per volume, . 6 00 ^ Full Morocco, Gilt, per volume, . . 10 00 



SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION THROUGH AUTHORIZED AGENTS. 

Delivered to any part of the United States free of charge. 



THE RESCUE OF GREELY. 

— BY 

Commander W. S. SCHLEY, U. S. N., and Prof. J. RUSSELL SO LEY, U. S. N. 

WITH MAPS AND NUMEROU:^ ILLUSTRATIONS. 
1 Vol., 8vo, New Edition, $2.00. 



Now that the story of the relief of Greely and his party is fully told, it turns out to be one of the 
most stirring and absorbing chapters in Arctic annals. The two disastrous attempts made in previous 
years, to the disappointment of the whole people, were enough to show that tlie rescue was not a 
matter of simply sailing up to Cape Sabine and back; there was some reason besides "luck" why 
two expeditions ended in disaster, and why the Navy finally accomplished what had been twice tried 
by others. 

The simplicity and modesty of Captain Schley's and Mr. Soley's narrative do not hide from any 
reader what this reason really was. 



Dr. FIELD'S TRAVELS 

By Rev. HENRY M. FIELD, D.D. 



From the Lakes of Killarney 

to the Golden Horn, . . $2.00 

From Egypt to Japan, . 2.00 

On the Desert, . . . 2.00 



Among the Holy Hills. With 

a map, . . . . $1.50 

The Greek Islands, and Turkey 
after the War. With illustra- 
tions and maps, . . . i . 50 



The Set, Five Volumes, Crown Svo, in a Box, $9.00. 



L— FROM THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY TO THE, 
GOLDEN HORN. 

From THE LONDON TIMES. 
" As we all know, it is not necessary for a man to discover a new country in order to write an 
interesting book of travel. He may traverse the most beaten track' in Europe, and yet if he can 
describe what he has seen with freshness and originality, he will succeed in engaging our atten- 
tion. We do not go far with Dr. Field before finding out that he is a traveller of this sort." 



II.— FROM EGYPT TO JAPAN. 

From Prof. ROSWELL D. HITCHCOCK, D.D., LL.D. 
" In this second volume, Dr. Field, I think, has surpassed himself in the first, and this is 
saying a good deal. In both volumes the editorial instinct and habit ^.re conspicuous. Dr. Prime 
has said that an editor should have six senses, the sixth being, a "sense of \.\i& interesting.'''' 
Dr. Field has this to perfection. ..." 



III.— ON THE DESERT. 

TTITB A. JiMI£:F JtEVIEW OF RECENT EVENTS IN EGYPT. 



An account of a journey in the track of the Israelites along the Red Sea, among the peaks of 
Sinai, through the Desert of the Wandering, and up to the Promised Land. 



From ike NEW YORK HERALD. 
"There is not an uninteresting chapter in the book. It is entertaining throughout. It depicts 
men and countries in a picturesque and thoughtful manner, and is likely to meet with as much 
favor as the author's former capital books of travel." 



IV.-AMONG THE HOLY HILLS. 

A description of the sacred localities of Palestine by a veteran traveller. The interest of the 
Holy Land above all others, is that here was spent the most wonderful life that ever was lived on 
the earth : and the purpose of the journey, to which this book is indebted, is to trace that life 
from its beginning among its native hills and to follow closely in the footsteps of our Lord, not 
merely in the streets of Jerusalem, but through Samaria and Galilee, along the lake shore and on 
the mountain side. 

v.— THE GREEK ISLANDS AND TURKEY AFTER 
THE WAR. 

From a Letter from Dr. HOWARD CROSBY. 
" It fully sustains the high reputation which the author has won from his preceding books of 
travel. I believe that the verdict of posterity will put Dr. Field's name first in the list of Ameri- 
can travel writers. His graceful style, his thorough mastery of language, his graphic picturing, 
his historical and political references to his sound conclusions, make most fascinating and 
instructive reading," i. 

" It is the best of all works on the Island of Greece, and on Turkey and Asia Minor." 

—Springfield Republica>i. 
" If there were any best among Dr. Field's works of travel, we should aver that it was this." 

— The Critic. 



SCRIBNERS GUIDE-BOOKS. 



The Index Guide 

New Edition, 1887. Leather Binding. 

TO TRAVEL AND ART-STUDY IN EUROPE. 

By LAFAYETTE C. LOOMIS, A.M. 

With Plans and Catalogues of the CJiief Art Galleries^ Maps, 

Tables of HouteSf and 160 Illustrations. 

One Volume, 1 6mo, 600 Pages, $3.50. 



In condensing into one volume what Baedeker could hardly comprise in nine, and 
Murray in fifteen. Professor Loomis has accomplished a herculean labor, which his 
countrymen should not be slow to recognize. With characteristic good sense, he has 
given only brief reference to routes, hotels, and cost, devoting his space to history, 
mythology, and art. He has met the work witli a discrimination and intelligence 
which can hardly be too highly praised. 

"Only words of praise can be spoken of this Avork." 
"The best and completest." 

" By all odds the best Guide I have ever seen." 
"And something better than a guide-book." 
"Almost a triumph of genius in bookmaking." 

Part I. — Scenery, Art, History., Legends, and Myths, including descriptions of places, 
buildings, monuments, works of art, and the historical facts, legends, and myths 
connected with these. 

Part II. — Plans and Catalogues of the Art Galleries of Europe. 

Part III. — Maps, Tables, and Directions for all leading Routes of Travel. 

THE MEXICAN GUIDE. 

HEW EDITION FOR 1887. 

By XHOMAS A. JAIVVIBR.. 

One Volume, 16mo. With large folded maps. Leather, net, $2.50. 

The Mexican Guide has received the official endorsement of the Mexican Government (see 
extract from the Diario Oficial below), the warm commendation of the newspaper press of 
Mexico and the United States, the substantial approval of the travelling pubUc. It is the only 
practical, accurate guide-book to Mexico. 

" The Mexicari Guide, written in English and destined for the use of travellers who visit 
Mexico, is a book that merits especial commendation because of the fullness and exactness of 
the facts which it presents, and the judgment and care shown in its preparation. The book is 
acccompanied by a map of the City of Mexico, and one of its environs, both exact and useful. 
We recommend the purchase of this guide." 

AN IDYL OF THE SUMMER ISLANDS. 

BERMUDA. 

By JUI^IA C. R. DORR. 

With Map. One Volume, 12mo, $1.25. 

"A delicious book in its bright descriptions of a sunny land, where winter snow and frost 
are never known. There is very little of hard, dry description in the volume, but there is much 
of accurate information deftly conveyed in a bright, off-hand manner, and the whole work is so 
permeated by a sympathetic feeling and comprehension for that which is most fascinating in Ber- 
mudian life, that we get a vivid impression of naturalness from the reading of its pages." 

— Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 



A NOTEWORTHY BOOK. 

Our Arctic Province, 

ALASKA AND THE SEAL ISLANDS. 

By HENRY W. ELLIOTT. 

Illusirated by Drawings from Nature, by the Author, and Maps. 



One Volume, 8vo, $4.50. 



Mr. Elliott has for many years been connected with the Smithsonian 
Institution at Washington. A scientist and a naturalist, his book on 
Alaska, besides being of the utmost interest to the general reader, is of 
great value and importance as a contribution to scientific research. The 
author has spent six or seven years in studying Alaska and its people, 
travelling from the most southerly point of the province to the most 
northerly, along the coast, and among the islands extending 300 miles to 
the west. His treatment of the seal interests is particularly full, and of 
especial moment in view of the fact that the contract between the United 
States and the Alaska Seal Company, which supplies the world with seal- 
skins, will soon lapse, and the subject is certain to come up prominently in 
Government affairs. The natives and the Alaskan life Mr. Elliott writes 
of as one who knows his subject intimately. The illustrations, of which 
there are about a hundred, are engraved from the author's original draw- 
ings and water-color paintings. 



There has scarcely been a book published on Arctic travel so vivid 

Philadelphia and picturesque in treatment, and so clear and definite in the infor- 

Record. mation which it furnishes, as this work by Mr. Elliott. . . . It is 

an effective and really wonderful record of travel and exploration. ., 

Other books may still be written about Alaska, but it is not easy to 
N. Y. yournal understand how any of them can e.xceed this one in interest, or in 
of Commei'ce. any way shake its authority as an accurate guide to "Our Arctic 
Province." 

A book that is a work ; not a sportsman's pastime, but a scientist's 
Boston Literary treatise; not a history, not a mere description, not a narrative of ad- 
World. venture ; but a carefully studied, thoroughly assimilated, intelligently 

written, attractively illustrated exposition of Alaska. 

Nothing so complete and satisfactory has ever before appeared in 

Chicago print in this country as this absorbingly interesting and minutely 

Herald. accurate account of the great Alaskan Seal Islands, and the book must 

now be regarded as the standard authority on " Our Arctic Province." 



New York 



Few books on Alaska contain so much that has real value and posi- 
\iew xorR jjyg interest as this. It is an accumulation of very vital facts about 

^ ^ ■ that country set forth in an exact and yet attractive manner. 

A standard, comprehensive work, whose scientific accuracy is be- 

r, . yond question, and whose graphic descriptions and vital interpreta- 

Trav "u tions of the resources of Alaska hold the reader with something of the 

^ '^''" charm of a romance. . . . The book is certainly one of the most 

valuable contributions to contemporary literature. 



"THE ONE BOOK ON CHINA." 



THE MIDDLE KINGDOM. 

A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts and History 
of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants. 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND A NEW MAP OF THE EMPIRE. 

By S. WELLS WILLIAMS, LL.D., 

Proyessor o_f the Chinese Language and LiteratKre at Yale College; Author o/" Tonic and 

Syllabic Dictionaries o/ the Chinese Language. 

Two Volumes, 8vo. Price, S9.00. 



The wonderful advance in the arts of civilization and intellectual development made by China 
during the thirty-five years since this book was first written, and especially the new basis upon which 
its foreign relations have been established and the events that are even now occurring in this connec- 
tion, render the publication of this revised edition unusually important. 



" All this vast mass of new and trustworthy information concerning the ' Middle Kingdom,' Dr. 
Williams has gathered together and condensed with praiseworthy diligence and ability, and the result 
is an encyclopsedia of China the value of which cannot be overestimated. . . . An exceedingly com- 
plete and accurate account of the most interesting country in the world." — London Saturday Revieiv. 

"The revised edition of the 'Middle Kingdom' is the most ambitious and the best executed work, 
typographically speaking, that has issued for a long time from American presses. From a literary 
standpoint it must be regarded as the best general work on China extant, and therefore as indispens- 
able to the reader who wishes to obtain a comprehensive view of the wonderful country and people it 
treats of." — N. Y. Tribune. 



COREA: THE HERMIT NATION. 

By WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, 

AUTHOR OF " THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE," AND LATE OF THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY, TOKIO, JAPAN. 
1 Vol., 8vo, -with numerous maps and Illustrations, new edition, S3. 50. 



''The work bears witness to a vast amount of well-directed labor; and while it is clothed with a 
rare charm for the general reader, whose curiosity regarding a long-isolated nation will for the first 
time be satisfied, it is also sure of a respectful and grateful reception from the stij;..ent of history, eth- 
nology, and philology. The discussion, indeed, of the Corean language in an appendix is the first 
essay on the subject which has seemed to us at once e.\-pUcit, intelligible, and trustworthy." 

— Ne-iV York Sun. 

EAST OF THE JORDAN. 

A Record of Travel and Observation in the Countries of Moab, Gilead, and Bashan, 

during the years 1875-1877. 

By SELAH MERRILL, Archceologist of the American Palestine Exploration Society. 

TVitli illustrations and a map. 1 Vol., 8vo, ne-w edition, S3. 00. 



No other American is so much at home in the East Jordan country as Mr. Merrill, and there does 
not exist in any other language so much fresh and valuable information respecting it. The illustra- 
tions which embellish the book are fresh and original, and the style of the narrative is graphic and 
entertaining. The work is exceedingly interesting as an account of exploration in this field, rich in 
historic associations. 



BRAZIL: THE AMAZONS AND THE COAST. 

By HERBERT H. SMITH. 

Illustrated from sketches by J. Wells Champneij and others. 1 Vol., 8uo., extra cloth, $5.00. 

" In this book Mr. Smith, an American, who has lived and travelled for the greater part of eight 
years in Brazil, gives so excellent an account of that country that we cannot regret this addition to the 
already extensive literature of the subject. The book is a very successful attempt to present a com- 
prehensive picture, drawn both from the experience of the author and from that of previous Brazilian 
and foreign writers, of the present state of Brazil." — London Acadetny. 



TURKISTAN. 

Notes of a Journey, in 1873, in the Russian Province of Turkistan, the Khanates of 
Khokan and Bokhara, and Provinces of Kuldaja. 

With a Chapter showing Russian Progress in Central Asia during the last ten years. 

By EUGENE SCHUYLER. 
New Edition. TVitli many illustration?. 3 Vols., 8vo, !S5.00. 



THE IVORY KING. 

A POPULAR HISTORY OF THE ELEPHANT AND ITS ALLIES, 

By CHARLES F. HOLDER. 
, Square 8vo, with twenty-four full-page Illustrations, $2.00. 

The wonderfully interesting array of facts which Mr. Holder brought together in his Mar- 
7'eh of Animal Life ^vi3,%x.\\& fruit very largely of his personal observations. It forms one of 
the tnost stimulating and delightful contributions to the class of Natural History books for the 
young that has ever been made, and was a fitting forerunner to The Ivory King, which is devoted 
entirely to the Elephant, and has even a more vivid fascination than the first named volume. 
The summary of its contents includes the Natural History of the Elephant, its habits and ways 
and its intelligence, the Mammoth Three and Four Tusked Elephants, Hunting and Capturing 
Wild Elephants, the Elephant in Captivity, Rogue Elephants, the White Elephant, Trained 
Elephants, Show Elephants, Ivory, War Elephants, etc., etc. The numerous illustrations are 
especially excellent, being drawn from a great variety of sources. 

It would be hard to name a book which would be a more welcome and valued addition to the 
library of the average boy or girl just beginning to cultivate a love of reading and an interest in 
the world around them. 



MARVELS OF ANIMAL LIFE. 

By CHARLES F. HOLDER. 

Square 8vo, with thirty-two full-page Illustrations, $2.00. 

" One of the most remarkable of recent publications. . . . The kind of book that ought 
to find its place in libraries for boys and girls of a thoughtful and inquiring turn of mind. It 
not only satisfies a healthful curiosity but it furnishes a world of substantial information." — 
Christian Union. 



AMONG THE LAW-MAKERS. 

By EDMUND ALTON. 

With many Illustrations of the Government Buildings, Halls of Congress, Etc., Etc. 

One volume, square 8vo, S3. 50. 

The author of this book was for four years connected with the legislative branch of our Gov- 
ernment, in the capacity of a Senatorial page. Although the book is addressed to the younger 
generation, there are not a few of their elders who will find much information in it that they 
may be glad to gain, and both young and old cannot but be delighted with Mr. Alton's reminis- 
cences of one of the most exciting periods of our history, that immediately following the civil war. 



THE MAKING OF NEW ENGLAND. 

1580-1643. 

By SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE. 
With 241 Illustrations and Maps. One Volume, 12mo. Price, $1.50. 



FROIVL THE PREF^^CE. 

This little book is intended to meet, so far as it may, the want of brief, compact, and handy 
manuals of the beginnings of our country. 

It aims to occupy a place between the larger and the lesser histories, — to condense or elimi- 
nate from the exhaustive narrative as to give it greater vitality, or so extend and elucidate what 
the school history too often leaves obscure for want of space as to supply the deficiency. So, 
when teachers have a particular topic before them it is intended that a chapter on the same sub- 
ject be read, to fill out the bare outlines of the common school text-book. 



AN AMERICAN FflUR-lN-HAND IN BRITAIN. 

By ANDREW CARNEGIE. 

1 '\'ol., small quarto, $3.0O. Cheap Edition, yellow paper cover, 25 cents. 



The book gives a lively account of the author's famous drive with a party of friends on a coach 
through England and Scotland. The trip was originally suggested by Mr. illack's novel, "The 
Strange Adventures of a Phaeton," and extended from Brighton to Inverness, a distance of more 
than eight hundred miles, which was accomplished in about seven weeks. Mr. Carnegie is an enter- 
taining and agreeable writer, and this record of his novel journey makes a most delightful and read- 
able book. 

Uniform with the small quarto edition of AN AMERICAN FOUR-IN-HAND IN BRITAIN. 



ROUND THE WORLD 

By ANDREW CARNEGIE. 

1 Vol., small quarto, *3.50. 



Mr. Carnegie's Four-i7i-Hand in Britain was one of the brightest and most popular books of 
the season. His new volume, as it has a wider scope, has also a more comprehensive interest and 
value. Buoyant, keen, joyous, and practical, the author sets down without reserve or affectation, just 
the impressions that made themselves most vividly felt at the moment, and the rapid flow of the 
narrative fairly enchains the reader's attention. 

Sailing from San Francisco to Japan on his course round the world, the larger part of Mr. Car- 
negie's book is taken up with the description of Eastern lands, and it forms a real addition to the 
literature of travel. 



TRIUMPHANT DEMOCRACY 

OR, FIFTY YEARS' MARCH OF THE REPUBLIC. 

By ANDREW CARNEGIE. 



1 Vol., Svo. Price, 883.00. 



This work will open the eyes of the masses to the wonderful advancement — physical, moral, po- 
litical, and intellectual — of the United States during the last half century, an advancement either little 
understood or willfully misrepresented in Europe. Though various causes have contributed to this 
unexampled rate of progress, the principal one, in Mr. Carnegie's opinion, is the fundamental fact of 
the equality of the citizen in the Republic. 



CHRONICLE OF THE COACH 

CHARING CROSS TO ILFRACOMBE. 
By JOHN DENISON C H A M P L I N , Jr. 

Illustrated by Edward X.. Cliicliester. 1 vol., 12mo. New Edition, $1.25. 



"The book takes us into the old and out-of-the-way places of which we have heard less, and in 
which we are more interested because of their old-time and eventful histories, their quaint buildings, 
customs, and people, their charming scenery and their poetic legends. The company is merry, wise, 
and observant ; harmless and witty jest and repartee abound, and all these find in Mr. Champlin a 
lively and intelligent chronicler." — Chicago Interior, 



JOHN BULL AND HIS ISLAND. 

One Volume, 12mo, paper, 50 cents ; cloth, $1 .00. 

This ivitty and incisive book on England, by an anonymous French author, is the sensa- 
tion of the moment in Paris, London, and A merica. The British press and public have been 
compelled to laugh over the admirable cleverness of the study, even while they protested : 
and the fairer critics have recognized the striking truth and merit of the more serious criti- 
cism "which forms no insignificant ^>art of it. 



THE RUSSIANS AT THE GATES OF HERAT. 

Principal authority of the English press on the Central Asia Dispute. 

Illustrated with portraits and maps. Paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1 .00. 



Army Life in Russia. 

By F. V. OREENE, 

Lieutenant of Engineers, United States Army. 

Late Milliiary Attache to the U. S. Legation in St. Petersburg, and author of 
"The Russian Arjny and its Campaigns in Tu7-key in 1877-78." 

One Volume, 12mo. New Edition, $1.25. 

"The sketches are excellently well done, graphic, evidently not exaggerated, and very read- 
able. It is a book that vcill be read with pleasure, and one that contains a great deal of infor- 
mation." — Hartford Courant, 

"This volume is in every way an admirable picture of army life in Russia. It is clear, con- 
cise, discriminating, and often very picturesque. The author, besides possessing an excellent 
style, is extremely modest, and there are very few books of travel in which the first person is 
kept so absolutely in the background." — International Review. 



THE SNAKE DANCE 

OF THE 

MOQUI S OF AR IZONA. 

Being a Narrative of a Journey from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the villages of the Moqui 

Indians of Arizona, with a Description of the Manners and Customs of this Peculiar People. 

By John G. Bourke, Captain Third U. S. Cavalry. One volume, crown 8vo, with more 

than thirty plates, many of them beautifully colored. $5.00, 

While Captain Bourke's narrative presents an extraordinarily interesting narration of adven- 
ture, its importance should be emphasized as an original contribution to the literature bearing 
upon the manners, customs, and religions of a peculiar and historic people, who have lived in 
Mexico and Arizona since the Spaniards first entered this portion of the country, in the middle 
of the sixteenth century. Captain Bourke was the first white man to witness many of the curious 
and picturesque customs of the Moqui Indians, particularly the famous Snake Dance. 

" The work forms a valuable contribution to the study of native American ethnology, while 
its vivid descriptions of weird scenes, stirring incidents of travel, and characteristic anecdotes, 
culminating with the accounts of the tablet and snake dances, generally written in a plain un- 
affected style, make it very agreeable reading." — The Londo?i Academy, 

BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 

AN APACHE CAMPAIGN 

IN THE SIERRA MADRE. 
One Volume^ 12^0, paper, 50 cents ^ cloth, $1.00. 



HISTORY o.rHH SECOND armY CORPS 

IN THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 

By FRANCIS A. WALKER, 

Brevet Brig. -Gen. U. S. Vols.; Asst. Adj. -Gen. of the Corps, Oct. 9, 1862— Jan. 12, 1865. 
WITH THIRTY-ONE PORTRAITS AND THIRTY MAPS. 



1 Vol., Svo, 750 pages, $4-.00. 



General Walker served through the war with the famous Second Army Corps, and writes, there- 
fore, from personal knowledge ; but, aside from this qualification, he is to an unusual degree fitted 
for the task of preparing this historical and personal account of the Corps by his gift for vivid and 
powerful writing. 

The Second Army Corps was one of the five original corps organized by President Lincoln. It 
remained in service during the entire war, captured forty-four Confederate flags before it had lost a 
color of its own ; numbered among its commanders, Sumner, Couch, Warren, Hancock, and Humph- 
ries, and among its Generals of Division, Sedgwick, Howard, Miles, Webb, Gibbon, French, Barlow, 
and Birney ; made the greatest assault at Marye's Heights ; bore the brunt of Longstreet's charge at 
Gettysburg : made a noble record at Spottsylvania ; fought the last infantry battle of the war against 
the Army of Northern Virginia, and left nearly 40,000 men on the various fields of Virginia, Maryland, 
and Pennsylvania. 

The history of the Second Army Corps, by virtue ot its extraordinary activity and achievements, 
is really the history of the war in the East, and the exceptional value of General Walker's work is 
self-evident 



FIFTY YEARS' OBSERVATION OF MEN AND EVENTS, 

CIVIL AND MILITARY. 

By E. D. KEYES, 

Brevet Brig. -Gen. U. S. A., and late Major-Gen. U. S. V. 



One Volume, 1 2mo, $1.50. 



"There is something fascinating in the atmosphere of a book like this, containing the informal 
talk of an old General, whose heart is light, whose manner is hearty, and who lives and revels in the 
old war times. Such a book draws many a reader, and touches the heart of soldiers who fought 
among the battles and are familiar with the scenes described." — Brooklyn Union. 



INSTRUCTIONS IN 

RIFLE AND CARBINE FIRING 

KOR. THE UNITED STJVTES ARIVEY. 

By CAPT. STANHOPE E. BLUNT, 

Of the Ordnance Dep't, U. S. A. 

Prepared by command of Brigadier-General S. V. Ben^t, Chief of Ordnance, U. S. 
Army, and published by authority. 



With many illustrations. Leather, with clasp, net, $2.00. 



^' I think Mr. Qualtrotigh^s Book very valuable to every young officer^ to yachtsmen, and 
to all who follow the sea. The material is carefully prepared, ivell arranged, and very useful 
to all interested in 7naritime matters.'''' — C. R. P. Rodgers, Rear-Admiral. 



THE SAILOR'S HANDY BOOK 

AND 

yachtsm:an's nianijal. 

HyE. F. QUALTROUGH, Master U. S. Navy. 
With Colored Plates, and many Illustrations. I vol., square 16mo, 620 pages. Blue roan, red edges. 

PKICE, S3.50. 

The American naval service and merchant marine, and that very large class of Americans 
who are interested in yachting or in some form of seamanship, have hitherto lacked one con- 
venience — almost a necessity, indeed. There has been no one book which, not aiming to replace 
abstruse scientific and theoretical treatises on seamanship, should bring together in a convenient 
form the really practical knowledge necessary for a sailor ; which should give him, immediately 
at hand, a compendium of those thousand details prompt and thorough acquaintance with which 
makes the difference between the good and the incompetent seaman. 

This want Lieutenant Qualtrough, of the United States Navy, has now filled by a book 
which is the most exhaustive and practical that could be planned. 

BT THE SAME ATTTSOR. 

THE BOAT SAILER'S MANUAL. 

A complete treatise on the management of sailing boats of all kinds, and under all conditions 
of weather, containing also concise descriptions of the various rigs in general use, at home and 
abroad, directions for handling, sailing canoes, and " The Rudiments of Cutter and Sloop Sailing." 

1 vol., square IGtno. Ulup. roan , orartfje edges. TV ithnumero us plates 
and illustrations. J^rice, IBH.OO, net. 

THE AMERICA'S CUP. 

HOW IT WAS WON BY THE YACHT AMERICA IN 1851, AND 
HOW IT HAS BEEN SINCE DEFENDED.. 

By Capt. ROLAND F. COFFIN, 

Author of "Sailors' Yarns," "Archibald the Cat," "How Old Wiggins Wore Ship," Etc., Etc. 

1 vol., 12mo. With Illustrations . Faper, 50c. Cloth, $1.00. 

A history of all the races since 1851 for the possession of the trophy, the emblem of the 
yachting supremacy of the world — commonly called the Queen's Cup — with an account of the 
English yachts Genesta and Galatea, entered for the races to be sailed in September, 1885, for 
the possession of this most coveted prize. Also descriptions of the yachts Priscilla and Puritan. 
There are twelve full-page illustrations from drawings by Frederick S. Cozzens, an engraving of 
the cup, and a reproduction of John Leech's cartoon published in London Punch after the 
remarkable victory of the America in 1851. 



TME MOST JiTTIt ACTIVE WOMK ON TACUTIKG ETEH ISSJJED. 

AMERICAN YACHTS. 

Plates by FREDERICK S. COZZENS. Text by J. D. J. KELLEY, Lieut. U. S. N. 
LIST OF SUBJECTS: 
I. The Early Racers, 



II. Sandy Hook to the Needles — 1866. 

III. An Old Rendezvous — New London. 

IV. Off Brenton's Reef. 
V. Rounding the Light Ship. 

VI. The Finish off Staten Island— 1870. 
VII. In the Narrows — A Black Squall. 
VIII. Running Out — New Bedford. 

IX. Off Soundings — A Smoky Sou'wester. 
X. Robbins Reef — Sunset. 
XI. Around the Cape — Marblehead. 
XII. Over the Cape May Course — 1S73. 
Xni. By Sou'west Spit. 
XIV. Moonlight on Nantucket Shoals. 

*»* Sold exclusively by subscription. Edition limited. No order taken except for the 
comp>lete ivork. 



XV. Lying-To off George's Banks. 
XVI. A Stern Chase and a Long One— 
1876. 
XVII. A Breezy Day Outside. 
XVIII. Crossing the Line — New York Bar. 
XIX. Minot's Ledge Light. 
XX. For the America's Cup— 1S81— The 

Start. 
XXI. A Mistv Morning — Drifting. 
XXII. In Down East Waters— Boston Bay. 

XXIII. Before the Wind-^Newport, 18S3. 

XXIV. Under the Palisades. 
XXV. Ice Boating on the Hudson. 

XXVI. Signal Chart. 



THE FIRST REALLY PRACTICAL BOY'S BOOK. 



THE AMERICAN BOY'S HANDY BOOK; 

OR, WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT. 

By DANIEL C. BEARD. 

Fully illustrated by the author. One volume, 8vo. New Edition, $2.00 

The popular Boy's Own Book of a generation ago is now, for Americans at least, completely 
obsolete. 'J'he imitations and elaborations of it have all the complicated and unpractical features 
of the original, without its merits. Most of them treat the reader either as a child or as a person 
with all manner of mechanical and scientific resources always at hand to help him. Mr. Beard's 
book is the first to tell the active, inventive, and practical A merican boy the things he really 
ivants to knoiv ; the thousand things he ivatits to do, and the ten thousand luays in ivhich he 
can do thon, itnth the helps and ingenious cojitriziances -which eziet-y boy can either procztre 
or make. The author divides the book among the sports of the four seasons ; and he has made 
an almost exhaustive collection of the cleverest modern devices — besides himself inventing an 
immense number of capital and practical ideas — in 

I Kite-Making, ] Trapping, "j 

SPEINS < F'ishing, Taxidermy, 

) Aquarium-Making, 1 Home-Made Hunting Appar- 

(. Etc. i atus. Etc. 



AUTUMN. 



SUUMES. 



Boat-Building, 
Boat-Rigging, 
Boat-Sailing, 
Camping-Out, 
Balloons, 
Etc. 



Ice-Boating, 
Snow-Ball Warfare, 
■Winter Fishing, 
Sled-Building. 
Puppet-Shows, 
Etc. 



- WINTEE. 



THE BOY'S 
LIBRARY OF PLUCK AND ACTION. 



Four volumes, i2mo, in a box, illustrated, $5.00 
Sold separately, per volume, . . . 1.50 

A JOLLY FELLOWSHIP. 

BY FRANK R. STOCKTON. 



HANS DRINKER; 

Or, THE SILVER SKATES. 

A STORY OF LIFE IN HOLLAND. 

BY MRS. MARY MAPES DODGE. 



THE 



BOY EMIGRANTS, 

BY NOAH BROOKS. 



PHAETON ROGERS. 

BY ROSSITER JOHNSON. 

In the "Boy's Library of Flue k and Ac- 
tiof!," the design was to bring together the 
representative and most popular books of four 
of the best known writers for youna; people. 

The volumes are beautifully illustrated and 
uniformly bound in a most attractive f -.rm. 



THE BOY'S 

LiM'ary of lepnl aud CtiYalry. 

Edited by SIDNEY LANIER. 

Eic3il7 Illustrated by Fredericks, Bensell, and Eapp'es 

Four vols., cloth, uniform binding, per set, §7.00 
Sold separately, per volume, . . . 2.00 

THE BOX'S KING AKTHUR. 

Being Sir Thomas Mallory's History of King 
Arthur and his Knights of the Hound Table. 



THE BOT'S FROISSART. 

Being Sir John Froissart's Chronicles of Ad- 
venture, Battle, and Custom in England, 
France, Spain, Etc. 

THE BOY'S PERCY. 



THE KMGHTLY LEGENDS OF WALES; 
OB, THE BOY'S MABINOGION. 

" Amid all the strange and fanciful scenery of 
these stories, character and the ideals of charac- 
ter remain at the simplest and purest. The 
romantic history transpires in the healthy atmos- 
phere of the open air on- the green earth beneath 
the open sky. . . . The figures of Right, 
Truth, Justice, Honor, Purity, Courage, Rever- 
ence for Law, are always in the background; and 
the grand passion inspired by the book is for 
strength to do well and nobly in the world." — 
The Independent. 



THE MERRY ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, 

OF GREAT RENOWN IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED 
BY HOWARD PYLE. i vol., 4to. $3.00. 

This superb book is unquestionably the most original and elaborate ever produced by any 
American artist. Mr. Pyle has told with pencil and pen the complete and consecutive story of 
Robin Hood and his merry men in their haunts in Sherwood Forest, gathered from the old 
ballads and legends. 



A NEW EDITION OF THE WONDER LIBRARY. 



THE ILLUSTRATED 

Library of Wonders. 

THE WONDERS OF MAN AND NATURE, 

IN EIGHT VOLUMES. 



THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE, 

IN EIGHT VOLUMES. 



THE WONDERS OF ART AND ARCHi^OLOGY, 

IN EIGHT VOLUMES. 



Sold Separately at $1 per Volume. 



Eacli Set, 8 Volumes in a Box, $8. 



Tweniy-four volumes, containing over a Thousand liiusirations. 
Each volume, 12mo, Complete in Itself. 



Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons take pleasure in announcing that they have 
now completed the new edition of The Wonder Library, the success of 
which has been most extraordinary and lasting. The books in this attractive 
new form will be found more valuable than ever. 

The series is designed to bring within popular comprehension the various operations 
and procedures in Science and the Arts, the plifjnomena and laws of nature, 
curious and striking facts in natural history, remarkable exploits, archceological 
discoveries, and a historical account of the progress of the fine arts. The sub- 
jects treated are of universal interest, and they are discussed in a popular and 
interesting manner. 

The illustrations are very numerous, and leave nothing to be desired on the score 
of completeness ; they add materially to the attractiveness and value of the 
series, which is by far the most thorough, interesting, and valuable of the kind 
ever produced. 



THE WONDERS OF MAN 
AND NATURE. 

Intelligence of Animals. 

Mountain Adventures. 

Bodily Strength and Skill. 

Wonderful Escapes. 

Thunder and Lightning. 

Adventures on the Great Hunting 

Grounds of the 'World. 
■Wonders of the Human Body. 
The Sublime in Nature. 

The set, S vols, in a boae, $8.00. 



THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE. 

Wonders of Heat. 
Wonders of the Heavens. 
W^onders of Optics. 
The Sun. 

Wonders of Acoustics. 
AA^onders of W^ater. 
■Wonders of the Moon. 
Meteors, Aerolites, Etc. 

The set, S vols, in a box, $8.00. 



THE WONDERS OF ART AND 
ARCHAEOLOGY. 

Egypt 3,300 Years Ago. 
The Wonders of Sculpture. 
Wonders of Glass-Making. 
Wonders of European Art. 
Pompeii and the Pompeians. 
W^onders of Architecture. 
The ■Wonders of Italian Art. 
The Wonders of Engraving. 

The set, 8 vols, in a box, $8.O0. 



Volumes not included in New 
Edition. 

■Wonderful Balloon Ascents, $1-25 

The Bottom of the Sea, 1.25 

Wonders of Electricity, 1.50 

Arms and Armour, 1.50 

■Wonders of ■Vegetation, 1.50 
Diamonds and Precious Stones, 1.50 



[From THE CINCINNATI COMMERCIAL.] 
" Scribner's ' Catnpaigns of the Civil War'' are probably the ablest and 7nost striA-ing 
account of the late war that has yet been "written. Choositig the flower of military authors, 
the publishers have assigned to each the task ofl "writing the history 0/ the events he kneia 
most about. Thus, both accuracy and a li/e-like /rashness have been sectcred^ 



The Campaigns of the Civil War. 

13 VOLUMES, CLOTH. WITH MAPS AND PLANS. 
Price, per volume, $1.00 ; "per Set, $l2.1jO. 

A series of volumes, contributed by a number of leading actors in and 
students of the great conflict of i86i-'65, with a view to bringing together, 
for the first time, a full and authoritative military history of the suppression 
of the Rebellion. 

The volumes are duodecimos of about 250 pages each, illustrated by 
maps and plans prepared under the direction of the authors. 

I. — The Outbreak of Rebellion. By John G. Nicolay. 

A preliminary volume, describing the opening of the war, and covering the period from the 
election of Lincoln to the end of the first battle of Bull Run. 
II From Fort Henry to Corinth. By the Hon. M. F. Force. 

The narrative of events in the West from the Summer of 1861 to May, 1862 ; covering the 
capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, etc., etc. 
III. — The Peninsvila. By Alexander S. AVebb, LL.D. 

The history of McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, from his appointment to the end of the 
Seven Days' Fight. 
IV. — The Army vuider Pope. By John C. Ropes. 

l-'rom the appointment of Pope to command the Army of Virginia, to the appointment of 
McCIellan to the general command in .September, 1862. 
Y. — The Antietam and Fredericksbui'g. By Gen. Francis Winthrop Palfrey. 

From the appointment of McCIellan to the general command, September, 1862, to the end 
of the battle of Fredericksburg. 
VI. — Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. By Gen. Aener Doubleday. 

From the appointment of Hooker, through the campaigns of Chancellorsville and Gettys- 
burg, to the retreat of Lee after the latter battle. 
Vn. — The Army of the Cumberland. By Gen. Henry M. Cist. 

From the formation of the Army of the Cumberland to the end of the battles at Chatta- 
nooga, November, 1863. 
"^TXI. — Tlie Mississippi. By Lieut. Fr.a.ncis Vinton Greene. 

An account of the operations — especially at Vicksburg and Port Hudson — by which the Miss- 
issippi River and its shores were restored to the control of the Union. 
IX. — Atlanta. By the Hon. Jacob D. Cox. 

From Sherman's first advance into Georgia in May, 1864, to the beginning of the March to 
the Sea. 
X. — The March to the Sea — Franklin and Nashville. By the Hon. Jacob D. Cox. 

From the beginning of the March to the Sea to the surrender of Johnston — including also 
the operations of Thomas in Tennessee. 
XI. — The Shenandoah Valley in 1864. The Campaijjn of S'leridan. By GEORcii 

E. Pond. 
XH. — The Virginia Campaign of '64 and '65. The Army of tlie Potomac and the 

Army of the James. By Andrew A. Humphreys. 
XIII. — Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States. By Frederick Phistercr. 

This Record includes the figures of the quotas and men actually furnished by all States ; a 
list of all organizations mustered into the U. S. service ; the strength of the army at various 
periods ; its organization in armies, corps, etc.; the divisions of the country into departments, 
etc.; chronological list of all engagements, with the losses in each ; tabulated statements of all 
losses in the war, with the causes of death, etc.; full lists of all general officers, and an immense 
amount of other valuable statistical matter relating to the War. 



THE NAVY IN THE CIVIL WAR. 

In three volumes, 13mo, uniform -with " The Campaigns of the Civil War. 

"With Maps and Plans. 

Price, per volume, . . . $1.00. 

I. — The Blockade and the Cruisers. By Professor J. Russell Solev, U. S. Navy. 

II. — The Atlantic Coast. — By Rear-Admiral Daniel Ammen, U. S. Navy. 

HI. — The Gulf and Inland "Waters. By Commander A. T. Mahan, U. S. Navy. 



two YGKm in tm Judglg. 

The Experiences of a Hunter and Naturalist in India, 
Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, and Borneo. 

By WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, 

Chief Taxidermist U. S. National Museum. 



One vol., 8yo, pp. xxii. 512, two folding maps and 51 illustrations. Price, $3.00. 



THE EXPEDITION AND ITS OBJECT. 

THE author relates the experiences of a hunter and naturahst in India, 
Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, and Borneo ; and certainly no richer 
hunting-ground could be found anywhere else in the world. Mr. 
Hornaday is chief taxidermist in the United States National Museum. 
He was formerly connected with Professor Ward's Natural Science 
Museum of Rochester, N. Y. , and his expedition to the East was in the 
interests of that establishment. While his book is in some respects like 
such works as those which Du Chaillu and Sir Samuel W. Baker have 
written to delight and interest a multitude of readers, he has imparted a 
vast amount of information, a large part of which is new and of the great- 
est moment to the naturalist. 

Mr. Hornaday started from New York in 1876. From England he 
went finally south to India, arriving at Bombay ; he went across country 
to Benares ; from here he made an expedition to the north to Cawnpore 
and Agra. From Benares he worked his way to Calcutta, journeyed down 
the Bay of Bengal to Madras ; southward again, he made a complete cir- 
cuit of Ceylon, than to the Malay Peninsula, and finally to Borneo, where 
his adventures with the orangutan were met, ending his two years of fruit- 
ful and entirely successful search. The illustrations are many, and most 
of them are taken from Mr. Hornaday's own sketches. Though it may 
seem to be stating much, it certainly may be truly said that a more inter- 
esting book of travel and adventures was never published. 



X 



"Decidedly the most interesting and instructive book of travel and adventure in 
the East Indies it has ever been our good fortune to read." — BaUimore News. 

" An entertaining volume. . . . The author has proved his ability to write a 
good book of travel." — Morriing Post (London). 

" To the naturalist, Mr. Hornaday's book cannot but be as deeply interesting as 
to the sportsman and traveller. ... It deserved to be distinguished from among 
the mass of books of sporting adventure." — Melbourne Argus. 

" One of the most entertaining and instructive books of its kind that has been 
published." — San Fraticisco Post. 




A CHAKMESTG BOOK FOK "WHEELiMEN. 

A CANTERBURY PILGRIMAGE. 

Ridden, Written, and Illustrated by Joseph and Elizabeth Robins Penneli,. 
One volume, square 8vo. Paper, 50 cents. 

Mr. and Mrs. Penneli.'s enthusiasm for the wheel led them to undertake this journey on a 
tricycle through the smooth, hard roads of old England, and to follow the path trod so many 
years by the Canterbury pilgrims. It is an exceedingly graceful and spirited narrative, and puts 
a feeling of breeziness in the air of these hot months. Everything prospered the tourists, and 
three more enjoyable days than those consumed in the ride from London to Canterbury Cathedral 
cannot easily be conceived. The illustrations with which the artist-authors covered their pages 
are surpassingly good. Mr. and Mrs. Pennell's little book will, of course, particularly interest 
those who may be devoted to the "machine." 

L A^WN T E N" IST I S 

AS A GAME OF SKILL. 
With the Latest Itevised Rules, as played by the best Clubs. 

By Lieut. S. C. F. Peile, B. S. C. Edited by Richard D. Sears. One volume, 
i2mo, flexible cloth. 75 cents. 



CONTENTS. 
Preface by the American Editor. Rules That are Often Disregarded. 

Hints to Beginners. When to take a Bisque. 

CoM.MON Fault.s., a Chapter for Ladies. 

Courts, Nets and Appurtenances. Laws of Lawn Tennis. 

General Principles and Club Rules. Table Showing Method of Calculating 

The Single Gam.'-:. Differential Odds. 

The Double Game. 

There has hitherto been no book treating lawn tennis as a game of skill, showing its possi- 
bilities and giving practical advice for the cultivation of scientific play. This Mr. Peile has done, 
and his little volume appeals directly to that large class of tennis players who are anxious to 
become proficient in the sport. Mr. R. D. Sears, who holds the championship of America, has 
added much that will interest American readers ; his notes are always practical, and cannot fail 
to be of service even to experts in the game. 

The London Saturday Review., in a long review of the book, says : 

"Mr. Peile has more than usual insight into the game of lawn tennis, and has some valuable 
teachings to bestow. His little book tells players what they ought to do and what they ought 
not to do. . . . The book is, in fact, a compendium of the game of lawn tennis, and should 
be in every player's hands.'' 

The book has had a great run in England, and in this American edition, with notes by Mr. 
Sears, it ought to become equally popular. 

For sale by all booksellers, or sent, post-paid, by the publishers, 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 743 & 745 Broadway, New York. 

[Published May i8, 1887, after four years' elaboration.] 

TEN THOUSAND MILES ON A BICYCLE. 

By Karl Kron, author of "Four Years at Yale, by a Graduate of '69." Cloth bound, 

gilt top, heliotype frontispiece, 41 chapters, 880 pages, 657,000 words, 

elaborate indexes, no advertisements. 

This is a guide-book of American roads, and its "index of places "gives 8,418 references to 
3,482 towns. Its list of 3,300 advance subscribers (arranged both alphabetically and geographi- 
cally, and representing every State in the Union) forms a unique directory of American wheelmen. 

Mailed on receipt of money-order for two dollars by the publisher, Karl Kron, at the Univer- 
sity Building, Washington Square, New York City, D. Analytical contents-table, descriptive 
circulars, and specimen pages sent free. 



" The Pri7ice of Story-Tellei-s.''^ — London Times. 

THE WORKS OF JULES VERNE. 

THE COMPLETE AND AUTHORIZED EDITIONS. 

The following works of M. JULES VERNE arc published by Messrs. Charles 
Scribner's Sons, by arrangement with Messrs. Sampson Low & Co., of London, in 
accordance with the right ceded to them by MM. Hetzel & Co., the publishers of M. 
Verne's works in the original French edition. These volumes contain all the illustrations 
of the French edition, and are the only complete and authorized books of M. Jules 
Verne published in this country. 

In a New and TTniforni Edition. 9 vols., Svo. With over 750 fuTl-paije 
Illustrations . I'rice, per set in a box, $17.50. 



Michael Strocoff ; ok, the Courier of 

THE Czar $2.00 

A Floating City and the Blockade 

Runners 2.00 

Hector Servadac 2.00 

Dick Sands 2.00 



A Journey to the Center of the 

Earth $2.co 

Frohi the Earth to the Moon. . . 2.00 
The Steam House. 2 vols, in one. 2.00 
The Giant Raft. 2 vols, in one. . 2.00 
The Mysterious Island. 3 vols, in one. 2.50 



JULES VERNE'S GREATEST WORK. 

THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. 

Three volumes, Svo, extra cloth, with 100 full-page engravings in each. Price, per 
volume, ........... $2.50 

The work includes three divisions, each in one volume complete in itself. 

I. Famous Travels and Travellers. 

II. The Great Navigators. 

III. The Explorers of the Nineteenth Century. 

Each volumie in the series is very fully illustrated with full-page engravings by 
French artists of note ; and the volume of " FAMOUS TRAVELS " is made still more 
interesting by many fac-similes from the original prints in old voyages, atlases, etc. 

" Even if truth vt'ere not stranger than fiction, to the healthful mind it ought to be far more 
fascinating. Such works as this are not only entertaining and informing, but their whole atmos- 
phere is bracing. They are as much better than sentimental heart histories or imaginary per- 
sonal experiences as a day in the open air is better than a day in a close and crowded apartment." 
— N. Y. Observer. 



BAYARD TAYLOR'S LIBRARY OF TRAVEL. 

Six Volumes, 12mo. Each with many Illustrations. 

SOLD SEPARATELY. PEK VOLUME, $1.35. 

A NEW EDITION, IN ATTRACTIVE BINDING, OF THIS ENTERTAINING SERIES IS NOW ISSUED. 

Each volume is complete in itself, and contains, first, a brief preliminary sketch of 
the country to which it is devoted ; next, such an outline of previous explorations as 
may be necessary to explain what has been achieved by later ones ; and finally, a con- 
densation of one or more of the most important narratives of recent travel, accom- 
panied with illustrations of the scenery, architecture, and life of the races, drawn only 
from the most authentic sources. 
Japan in our Day. Central Asia. 

Travels in Arabia. The Lake Region of Central Africa. 

Travels in South Africa. Siam, the Land of the White Elephant. 

Complete Sets, 6 Yol-umes (in a box), $6.00. 










i'-'''" ill 



